Across the Star(s)
by Lord of the Storm
Summary: A series of oneshots, maybe even two or three shots if the mood strikes me. Some Starco, some platonic, some nice, some wacky, some random inserts in various scenes just to picture what it would look like. Basically whatever strikes me and I will take requests/suggestions. Never done anything like this before so comments/feedback appreciated!
1. Chapter 1: Marco on the Piano

**AN: Despite being a longtime reader, I've never actually published anything on here. Go figure. Anyway….this will be a series of oneshots, maybe two or three shots if the mood strikes me. Please feel free to leave feedback or requests in the comments. No I will not be doing anything explicit. Most of these will either be Starco or at least hint at it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Star vs. The Forces of Evil, please give all credit to Daron and support the official release.**

**Chapter 1: Marco on the Piano**

Another bright morning had greeted Mewni and the Butterfly Kingdom, and Star wasn't about to let it go to waste! Setting off through the castle in search of Marco, she was absentmindedly thinking of what adventure they would go on today when the soft sound of a piano reached her ears.

"That's odd," she thought, following the notes to their source. "Mom is the only person I know who can play and she's usually stuck with, ick, paperwork this time of day." Star gave off an involuntary shudder at the thought of being chained to a desk pouring over documents all day as she continued to follow the increasingly loud notes. Finally reaching the door where the music was emanating from, she was shocked to realize this was Marco's room! Curiosity getting the better of her, Star cracked open the door just enough to get a peek in as Marco finished what appeared to be his warmup before taking a breath and launching into a song.

Star was instantly struck, "He sounds amazing!" Before she received an even bigger surprise…Marco started singing.

_Some folks like to get away, take a hollliddaayyyy from the neighborhood_

_Hop a flight to Miami Beach orrrrrr Hollywood!_

_But I'm taking a Greyhoud, on the Hudson River Linneeeeee_

_I'm in a New York State of Minnnddddd._

As Marco moved into the music between lyrics, eyes now closed in concentration, Star found herself wandering into the room, mind moving somewhere around a million miles a minute! Marco had never told her he could play the piano! Marco had never told her he could sing either! Ok that might've been too much, he had sung along to Love Sentence songs with her back on earth but still, this was a whole other level.

_I've seen all the movie stars_

_In their fancy cars and their limousines_

_Been high in the Rockies under the evergreens_

_I know what I'm needin'_

_And I don't want to waste more time_

_I'm in a New York state of mind_

The song had such a beautiful but almost sad theme to it, Star thought. Marco was now swaying his head in time with the music.

"Maybe he really misses earth?" She mused quietly to herself, not realizing that she had gotten even closer to the unsuspecting boy.

_It was so easy livin' day by day_

_Out of touch with the rhythm and blues_

_But now I need a little give and take_

_The New York Times, the Daily News_

_It comes down to reality_

_And it's fine with me 'cause I've let it slide_

_I don't care if it's Chinatown or on Riverside_

_I don't have any reasons_

_I left them all behind_

_I'm in a New York state of mindddddddddddddd_

_Oh yeah_

Marco had paused now, lightly letting his fingers move across the piano keys, seemingly lost in deep thought.

"Marco," Star said quietly in awe

"STAR!?" Marco practically jumped out of his seat and spun around, panicked and blushing profusely. "What are you doing here? How long have you been standing there?!"

Star suddenly found the floor to be the most interesting thing in the world, "Oh…you know…just the whole time, hehehe…ahehe."

"Star, you shouldn't be sneaking up on people like that" Marco said sullenly, crossing his arms.

"But Marco you were so amazing! Why didn't you tell me you could play the piano? Who was that guy anyway? Why was the song so sad? What's New York and why is it a state of mind? Is it like a meditative state for your karate? Is it sad karate?!" The questions seemed to be pouring out of Star's mouth as fast she could think of them and before long Marco's light frown had dissolved into chuckling and he held up his hands in a surrender.

"Ok, Ok Star. Let's see, I've been playing the piano since I was about 8 or so and I didn't tell you because it always seemed so dorky and I didn't want to embarrass myself I guess…"

"Oh Marco!" Star wrapped him in a hug, "You could never be a dork to me! Even your dorky things are awesome! Even that frilly apron you wore that one time to make nachos!"

"I thought we agreed that was never to be discussed again."

Star giggled, "The point silly is I wish you had told me sooner, I love the piano! So who was that guy anyway and what was that song about?"

Marco nestled more firmly into Star's hug, "That was Billy Joel. He's considered one of the best piano players and songwriters, like, ever. That was one of his songs about how he wants to get back to the place he's from called New York, it's on the other side of the country from Echo Creek."

"Okkkkkk, but why were you singing it, I mean it was good and all but it's such a sad song?"

"Well," Marco scratched the back of his head nervously, "It's a good song to play for homesickness I guess. It reminds you about being home and all the great things you miss about it and, I guess sometimes I just miss Echo Creek, you know? Everything here on Mewni is so different and new and sometimes it's just nice to think about home and playing helps me with that and…Star?"

Star was looking down, crestfallen. "I didn't know you were missing home so much Marco. If you want to leave I understand. I mean it must be weird being my squire and living in this castle and…"

Now it was Marco's turn to wrap Star in a hug. "No! No no no no no no no!" Marco squeezed tightly. "Star I love being your squire! I love being here on Mewni and going on all these adventures, and I love youuuu…rrrr castle chef! Yeah! Man that guy can make a mean plate of corn let me tell you!" Marco quickly backed off, blushing furiously.

"I just miss home sometimes, that's all. For every amazing thing here, home is still home, you know?"

"Yeah, I get it. There were definitely things about Mewni I missed on earth. I mean seriously, what kind of place doesn't have giant invisible goats pulling everything!"

Marco and Star started laughing until tears started forming. Star caught her breath first.

"Now then my royal squire! As your princess has discovered you possess an amazing new skill, I command that you play me another song by this Billy fellow! One that reminds you of me!"

Marco caught his breath and put on his most pompous aristocratic accent, "But of course my princess!"

He thought about it for a moment before setting his hands and turning to look at Star and softly smiling.

"Here's one I think you'll really enjoy."

**And that's a wrap! Please tell me what you think. If this wasn't a total bust, more updates will come soon!**


	2. Chapter 2: A Surprise for Star

**A/N: Back already?! Yeah I had this one written already and was going to post it tomorrow but I figured there wasn't much point in waiting. Comments, suggestions, and requests welcome!**

**Chapter 2: A surprise for Star**

Marco stormed out of the store, practically yelling in frustration. That had been the fifth place he had tried and still no luck! It was late in the afternoon on Relationship Thursday and he had promised Star it would be extra special this time! Who could've guessed that finding this one thing would be so difficult! Part of him simply wanted to give up, but he quickly shook his head at that thought.

"Snap out of Diaz!" He mentally berated himself. "Star is counting on you, and you're no quitter last time I checked! Now on to the next store." Puffing out his chest, Marco walked purposefully down the busy Echo Creek sidewalk, the next place would have what he needed for sure.

**Several hours later….**

Thirty-Seven…. He had been to 37 stores and not one, NOT ONE, had had what he was looking for! Marco was sitting on the sidewalk curb despondently drinking a slushie. The sun was getting lower in the sky, he figured he had maybe an hour or two left until he was due back at Butterfly Castle for his date. It was hopeless. If only he'd had more time!

"Wait!" He thought suddenly, "If only I had more time." There was one place in the multiverse he could go to buy himself some extra time…but it would be dangerous and he didn't exactly relish the idea of going back. An image of Star's angelic face smiling at him suddenly popped into his head. She was worth it, he reminded himself, she was always worth any risk. Grabbing his dimensional scissors, Marco tore a portal open in the middle of the street and stepped through, things were about to get a little wild.

**15 minutes later….**

A portal suddenly appeared outside Butterfly Castle and out stepped a thoroughly exhausted Marco. 30 years. It had taken him 30 damn years in Hekapoo's dimension to find what he needed, but he had Star's surprise at last. She wasn't going to be very happy the next time they went back to that dimension. His 30-something year old hot bod with abs for days had been replaced by a, admittedly still fit, but far older man. He looked less like a badass warrior and adventurer and more like a grizzled soldier that had lived through one too many campaigns. Speaking of, he hoped that by the time they went back the war he'd inadvertently started had ended. The last thing he needed was to go through expecting adventure before being grabbed and tried as a war criminal. Ah well, a problem for later. Looking up at the sky Marco rushed into the castle kitchens. If he hurried, he just might make it in time.

**One hour later…**

Marco burst into Star's room and there sitting on a couch was his beautiful girlfriend, practically bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Marco!" She shouted. "I've been waiting all day! I was starting to think you weren't going to show. Now, where's this surprise you've been telling me about?"

With a flourish, Marco pulled an absolutely massive plate of nachos out from behind his back.

"Behold!" He cried. "Marco's super mega ultra, triple cheese nachos!" They seemed to practically glow as he announced the title. "Made with not just any cheese, but the single rarest cheese in any dimension. A true feast prepared for the multiverse's most amazing princess." With a bow he placed the plate down on the small coffee table in front of them and took a seat next to Star.

"Awwww Marco!" She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "You're just the best! I can't think of a better way to spend Relationship Thursday!" Star moved to dig in when Marco suddenly coughed, "Ummm Star? There's actually one other thing I wanted to surprise you with, something I need to ask you actually."

Star's hand was halfway to the plate, eyes darting back and forth between the salivating treat and her boyfriend. "Well what is it? C'mon, the nachos are gonna get cold!" Marco seemed to gather his courage before rising off the couch, bending down on one knee, and producing a small box in one hand. He opened it, and Star gasped at what she saw. Nestled within the black velvet of the case was a ring made of an intertwined band of gold and silver, capped by a deep red underworld ruby surrounded by blue Mewni sapphires. It was easily the most beautiful thing Star had ever seen, although the warm and loving smile Marco was giving her was quickly shaping up to be a close second.

"Star, you've been my best friend for so long and I have loved you since the day the blood moon bound are souls together, will you do me the great honor of…." The rest of his sentence was cut off as he felt a weight hit him hard enough to push him onto the floor. Star wrapped him in a bone-crushing hug and smashed her lips into his in a passionate kiss. The two lay intwined like that for a while, and Marco started to see spots from lack of air. Part of his brain started screaming that they were going to die while the rest of him contemplated that of all the ways to go out, this was hardly the worst. Star finally saved him from making that choice when she broke the kiss, gasping for air herself.

"So, is that a yes then?" Marco asked with a slight grin? Sitting up while keeping Star in his lap.

"Yes! Yes Yes Yes Yes! A million times yes Marco! Of course I'll marry you! Oh you've made me the happiest girl on Mewni!"

"May I then?" He held up the ring and gestured towards her hand.

She giggled, "Of course."

He slipped the ring onto her finger, a perfect fit. He reminded himself to thank the royal jeweler later for having Star's ring size memorized.

Star stood up off Marco and immediately began pacing around, eyes never leaving the ring. "Oh we'll have to tell my parents! And your parents! And all of our friends! And we need a location, invitations, a theme, a hundred blood dragons riding through the sky and…" She went on and on. Marco simply laughed and grabbed her hand, stopping Star's train of thought. He leaned in and kissed her softly.

"All that can wait for tomorrow my love. Tonight, let's just enjoy a movie and these nachos. Like you said, the cheese is getting cold."

"That sounds just perfect Marco. I love you so much." The two sat down and snuggled together on the couch. Just as Marco was about to grab some of the delectable triangle food for himself Star suddenly spoke up. "Marco?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you have a burnt bald spot on the back of your head….AGAIN?!"

"Alright so this is going to take some explaining."

**A/N: And that's a wrap! I thought the idea of a surprise proposal involving nachos was classic Starco so I figured I'd try and write something about it. Please let me know what you think! **


	3. Chapter 3: The Admiral and the Pirate

**A/N: Another chapter coming out! Thanks to the readers who've left comments or have decided to follow the story so far, it means a lot to me. Hope everyone likes this one and as per usual, comments, suggestions, yadda yadda you all know the drill. You've read other fics! You know what this is! Whoa ok got a little sidetracked there, let's just get on with the story.**

**Chapter 3: The Admiral and the Pirate**

The wind filled the sails, the prow of the ship cutting like a knife through the water as gulls called out to one another overhead. At the helm stood Admiral Marco Diaz, Captain of _The Comet,_ pride of the Mewni navy. Named for the late Queen Comet, mother of the current Queen Moon, the ship was colossal. Three full square masts drove her forward and her three decks housed a crew of close to 500 sailors along with 60 cannon a side to say nothing of the two massive 32 pounders sitting in the bow. At just 25 years old, most people thought Marco was too young to be anything other than a cannoneer, to say nothing of being lead admiral of the world's strongest navy! But then again, those people didn't know Marco.

Orphaned at a young age, the boy had snuck onto a ship hoping to find a dry place to sleep for the night only to wake up and find it had set sail! Rather than chuck him overboard, the captain had taken a shine to the clever lad, and Marco had rarely spent a night ashore since. By age 12 he was a cadet in the Mewni naval academy, by age 16 he had been given command of a small frigate. During the last great war with the Lucitor kingdom five years ago it had been Marco's quick thinking at the battle of the Bay of Souls that had carried the day and helped turn the tide of the entire war. Despite his age, Queen Moon announced his promotion to Admiral and had further honored him with the preemptive command of the new flagship once it had been built.

Since then, Mewni had existed in relative peace, its extensive international trade bringing great wealth while its impressive fleet warded off would be aggressors and patrolled the sea lanes, protecting commerce. Incidentally, that was exactly what Captain Diaz and his crew were doing now. Lesser men might have thought it demeaning to be sent on routine scouting missions, thinking it beneath their station. But Marco had never been one to shirk from duty. And besides, the Queen had given this assignment to him personally. Apparently, some pirate styling herself Star Butterfly, a mocking gesture to the royal family, had been enjoying great success in taking particularly rich merchant prizes as of late, most recently the Queen's own treasure ship. Other captains had proved thoroughly incapable of catching the wily thief, and so Moon had dispatched her most capable captain to see the job done properly. They had been sailing for close to ten days now and apart from a rather violent squall that had appeared on the horizon two days earlier, nothing of note had occurred.

Marco was quietly handling the rudder, dressed in his usual attire. A high collared, pure white shirt held by a belt with a saber and pistol attached. Dark black pants and boots along with an ankle length blue coat with gold trim and buttons, a symbol of his admiral's rank, completed the outfit. As he was enjoying an easy morning, breathing in the salty air, the quiet at the helm was suddenly broken by a tan girl with a shock of winter green hair running up and tossing a quick salute, "Admiral Diaz sir!"

"First mate Kelly," he politely acknowledged with a tip of his head, keeping both hands firmly on the wheel. "A report?"

"Aye Captain! We think we've spotted her. She's a ways off a port bow and flying a warnicorn with a shooting star underneath. Listing pretty badly to port too! Figure maybe she got caught in that mess we saw the other day on the horizon."

"Excellent work sailor, take the wheel. I want to see this for myself." Marco stepped away from the wheel and headed toward the bow while Kelly kept them on a bee line for the presumed pirate vessel. Stepping up to the bow, Marco simply held his hand out and a nearby sailor jumped to attention and placed a spyglass in it. Looking through it, Marco confirmed everything Kelly had told him, the flag, how the ship was listing, and one other detail. Faintly along the stern one could just barely make out the ship's name, _Queen of Darkness_. "It's them," he said simply. Walking to center deck he began bellowing out orders.

"All hands to stations! Cannoneers prepare for a Port broadside! Boarders ready for hand-to-hand, I want ropes and muskets ready! Today we take in this scum for queen and country! Remember, you are fighting for the pride of Mewni, do your duty well and keep level heads. And one last thing, the Queen wants this one alive, captain's a blond with heart-shaped birthmarks on her face. Try not to kill her," he added sardonically at the end, drawing a chuckle from his crew.

As the chase wore on it became apparent that despite its larger size and heavier weight, the _Comet's_ extra mast and the clear damage to the _Queen of Darkness_ meant the gap between the two ships was closing. Apparently finally realizing they would have to make a stand, the pirate vessel quickly began to turn hard right, attempting to hit the bow of Marco's ship with a broadside.

"Hard to starboard! Hold your fire until we're even with them, sight the rear mast and the main deck!" Marco was running about making sure his seasoned crew had everything in position. Looking across the gap between the two ships he could spot the enemy crew, a mix of Mewmans, Monsters, Demons, and what he swore was a decapitated (and somehow floating) unicorn head. Certainly vicious enough looking, he thought to himself. Wonder how they'll hold up under fire?

By now the ships had lined up near perfectly, Marco waited just one more second then, "Fire! Fire all!" The command rang out, quickly drowned in the roar of cannon fire as the two ships exchanged full broadsides. Judging by the holes in the pirate vessel, his cannoneers had done pretty well, although their aim had been a bit low. He chided himself, now was not the time to criticize crew performance.

"Kelly!" He shouted up! "Move us in closer! Prepare a second broadside and prepare to board!" The two ships drifted closer together, Marco estimating that he had a roughly 2-1 advantage based on the reports he'd received. Another gigantic broadside rang out and he saw that this time his men had struck the first deck and a number of pirates went down. Make that 2.5-1 he smirked. The boarding party, Marco at the head, grabbed ropes and leapt over onto the _Queen of Darkness'_ deck. Other sailors on his ship started laying down planks for the less adventurous, although he had little time to worry about that as he almost immediately found a massive troll swinging a broadsword at him. Rolling while drawing his saber, Marco quickly sidestepped a second swing and stabbed the pirate under the arm, felling him. And so it went. A number of his men had gone down but the superior numbers of the Mewman sailors and the morale boost from their courageous captain gave them the edge.

Marco had edged further into the center of the enemy ship looking for another opponent to fight when suddenly out of the corner of his eye he saw a blur of metal come flying towards his head. Instinct and quick reflexes saved him but he still received a rather nasty gash on his arm as a result. Turning to face his new opponent Marco was mildly surprised to be staring at a young woman around his age by the look of her. Long golden hair appeared from underneath a blue bandanna and heart marks graced her cheeks. She was wearing a red and white striped blouse tucked into leather leggings and knee-high brown boots. She was shorter than he was, but lithe, clearly comfortable on the deck of a ship, and if that swing was anything to go by, skilled with a cutlass.

"Captain Butterfly I presume?"

She spat on the ground and rested her sword on her shoulder, "That's me! And you must be the latest naval hack her pompous majesty has sent to come and bring me in."

Marco simply shook his head, typical uncultured pirate. "I am Admiral Marco Diaz of the Mewni navy and if you'll have a look around you can clearly see you and your brigands are losing this fight."

"For now," Star begrudgingly agreed. "But I bet once I gut their fancy admiral like a fish all your pretty sailor boys will run screaming for their mothers!" And with that she launched another quick strike at Marco's head. Expecting it this time, Marco parried and took a swing of his own at her. Star parried that one away as well and the two began circling each other warily, looking for an opening as the battle continued to rage around them.

Examining her stance and footwork Marco dryly commented, "You have decent form, for a pirate."

"Thanks, you have decent moves for a dead man!" She swung out at him before freezing mid-swing and switching to a back-hand slice which Marco blocked and then slid his blade down hers, lightly nicking her shoulder.

"Not dead yet, am I?" Star could only scream in frustration at that and threw herself back into the fight.

The personal duel between the two captains continued for some time and in spite of himself, Marco was enjoying himself immensely. It had been a while since he had faced an opponent with any sort of skill. The longer the duel dragged on, the more and more he found himself curious about this pirate.

"So why a life of piracy?" He asked while attempting to lop off her hand.

She shrugged, "Don't know. Why did you choose to be a royal lap dog?"

Marco frowned at that one. Putting a little more strength behind his next swing he explained, "I was an orphan. The Mewni navy gave me a place in the world, a home, and something to be proud of. The Queen herself made me an Admiral and gave me command of this vessel." He placed a thin cut on Star's upper forearm, causing her to wince. "That's hit number six for me by the way, and I asked you first."

"It's only been five" she muttered. "And fine, I was a servant girl in some noble's household in the capital. I hated it; I was treated as worse than dirt every day of my life. I figured any sort of life, even death, would be better than this. So, I snuck on a ship one night and hoped off at the first port we reached and never looked back." She managed to get inside his guard and clip one of the buttons off Marco's jacket. "And that's six for me just so we're clear."

Marco rolled his eyes, "but why piracy?"

"It's a tough world out there Admiral~" she sarcastically drolled. "I wanted freedom more than anything else in this world, and nothing is more freeing than being a pirate. And you happen to be standing in the way of that at the moment, so I think it's time to end this!" With that, Star locked blades with Marco and the two began to shove against one another. Marco's superior height and strength effectively countered by Star's lower center of gravity. As the two got in each other's faces Marco realized two things. That this pirate was quite beautiful, and that the sound of their blades grinding against one another was the only thing he could hear. Disengaging from her he saw that his crew had in fact carried the day. Some of the pirates had been killed, along with some of his own men. Many others on both sides were nursing wounds and the rest had surrendered. Almost regretfully, Marco broke the grapple and leveled his saber at Star. "It's over Captain Butterfly. Surrender to me now and I promise you will be treated fairly."

"Like I'd believe that!" She hissed.

"I swear it on my honor as an Admiral of Mewni" he intoned.

"And what happens to me if I do surrender?"

"My orders come directly from her majesty, you are to be taken alive and returned to Mewni to face the Queen's justice."

"You're just taking my freedom like all the others. Just trading a servant's rags for a prisoner's." All the fight seemed to go out of Star in that moment and for a reason Marco couldn't explain, it almost wounded him.

"Fine captain Diaz." She threw her cutlass on the deck. "You win. I trust you will take care of my men."

"They will all receive treatment for their wounds, you have my word." Star only nodded at that. A sailor came up and clapped her in iron manacles as was done to the rest of the surviving crew.

"First mate Kelly!" Marco cried out. "Aye Admiral?"

"Get these prisoners to the brig. See that they're fed and given medical attention. Have some of the crew tie off this ship and tow it behind us. Set a course for Mewni, we're going home."

"Yes sir!" Kelly began shouting out orders and before long Marco was almost alone with Star again save the two guards now escorting her to the brig.

"For what it was worth Admiral Diaz" she gave almost a half-smile "It wasn't a half bad fight." Marco didn't offer a reply, simply nodding to the two sailors as they led Star away to the brig.

That night rather than gently lulling him to sleep as it normally did, the rocking of the ship left Marco feeling restless. He kept playing the fight and conversation he'd had with that pirate Butterfly over and over again. He couldn't shake the feeling of joy he'd felt fighting her, nor the small pangs of regret in seeing her locked up. Finally, as dawn approached Marco could take it no longer. Pulling himself out of bed and dressing he quickly strode from his quarters towards the brig. Approaching the guard outside the door leading to a row of cells Marco held out his hand.

"I wish to interrogate Captain Butterfly. I'll need the keys sailor."

The man snapped to attention and quickly took the keys off his belt. "Of course, Admiral, here you are."

"Good. You're dismissed."

"Admiral?"

"I said you're dismissed. This interrogation may get…. messy. I'd prefer you not have to hear it."

"Yes, of…. of course, Admiral," the man said reluctantly. "Are you sure you'll be alright though sir?"

Marco simply fixed him with a look…. "leave." The man scampered off. Once he was around the corner, Marco swiftly unlocked the door, relocking it behind him and striding down to the end of the row. There, sitting despondently in a cell separated from the others was Captain Butterfly. She looked up at the sound of approaching bootsteps and scowled upon seeing who it was? "What do you want?" She spat. Marco said nothing, keys in hand, simply looking at her.

"Well?" She challenged again. "Nothing to say? That stuffy collar suffocating you a little?" Again, her goading failed to elicit a response. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Marco opened the door.

"You escaped," he said, tossing the keys into her lap.

Star was thoroughly confused. She held up the key ring and looked at Marco, "what?"

"I came down here to personally interrogate the pirate captain. She managed to trick and overpower me, knocking me unconscious and locking the cell door behind me. By the time my crew notice tomorrow morning that I'm not around and that your ship is gone, it will be too late. In spite of my best efforts, it appears the notorious Captain Star Butterfly has escaped my grasp." Marco actually managed a small smile. "I think it's rather brilliant personally speaking."

Star slowly stood up, wary that this was somehow all a trick. Some false sense of freedom to break her psychologically. There must be a loaded cannon sitting on the other side of the brig door or something. She directed her attention back to her captor/savior. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I had a lot of fun in that little duel of ours and someday, I'd like a rematch," Macro smirked. Then his cocky attitude faded into something Star couldn't quite put a finger on. "And because no matter how beautiful a bird might look in a cage, it's ever more so when it's free." With that, he shuffled around her into the cell she had previously been occupying and sat on the wet ground.

"Well? Aren't you going to lock me up and make good your escape?"

Star hesitated for a moment. She didn't trust this pompous royal pet; she had no reason to! And she didn't need him either! She was Captain Star Butterfly, terror of the seas after all. But some part of her, against all reason and logic, told her that this Admiral, this man with orders from his oh so beloved queen to hunt her down like a stag in the woods, could be trusted. Never one to shy away from her gut instinct, Star made up her mind and locked the cell door, Admiral Diaz inside.

"This doesn't mean I owe you any favors you know. You took me prisoner in the first place so freeing me just makes us even. Next time we meet I won't hold back. You know that, right?"

Marco looked up at her and again smiled softly, "I know."

"Good." Star turned to start opening the remaining cell doors and get what was left of her crew out of there. Just as she had let the last of her crew out and was about to exit the brig, Marco called out to her.

"Captain Butterfly!" She slowly turned to look at him. "I won't be going easier on you next time either. I had at least six other parries that would've left you wide open. Could've ended it whenever I felt like it."

Star placed her hands on her hips, "Pft! I'd like to see you try lap dog!" She turned to leave but stopped herself one more time. Turning back a simple "thank you" left her lips and she crept out of the brig towards her ship, towards freedom.

As Marco tried his best to make himself comfortable for the next few hours until someone from his crew came and sprang him from his cell, he contemplated all that he had just done. On the one hand, he had just betrayed everything he'd ever known. Heck, he'd committed high treason! Letting a highly wanted pirate go free, helping her escape when he'd taken her prisoner! If anyone ever found out about this, it would be his head on a chopping block. On the other hand, he couldn't stop the thrill of excitement that ran through him. That pirate sure was something after all. An excellent swordswoman, utterly fearless, quite easy on the eyes…. he stopped that train of thought immediately! He had released her because she was a worthy adversary. Nothing more! Whatever the case, he closed his eyes as sleep finally started to overtake him. Marco's last conscious thought was that it certainly felt like his life was about to get far more interesting, and he couldn't have been happier about it.

Of course, he couldn't have known it at the time, but as _Queen of Darkness_ slipped off its moorings and sailed away into the dawn, Captain Star Butterfly, pirate extraordinaire, was thinking the exact same thing.

**A/N: Wow so that was way longer than I expected. Like this chapter is almost twice as long as the first two combined, and that's with me cutting out the ice dancing scene! Kidding, kidding. But seriously, this story has already taken on a life of its own and I'm already thinking of doing a part II for this one somewhere down the line. I love pirate-based stories and just the concept of Star and Marco chasing each other just seems like such a good idea! But you already know how I feel about this, you just read the chapter after all! Please let me know what you think and I look forward to posting the next adventure!**


	4. Chapter 4: The Day you Left

**A/N: Only thing to say about this chapter is that it's a non-magic AU. Hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 4: The Day you Left**

It was a typical Thursday evening at the Diaz household in Echo Creek. Marco mentally ran through his checklist. Nachos? Done. Movie setup? Good to go. Parents out of the house so he didn't have to deal with them taking so called "adorable" pictures of him and his guest? Perfect. Speaking of his guest, his lifelong best friend was there as per usual, but something was off.

Star Butterfly had been his absolute best friend for as long as he could remember. They'd gone to school together, gone on all sorts of wacky adventures, and had been each other's, platonic, dates for every sweet 16, Quinceañera, bar-mitzvah, Christmas party, and school function imaginable. When people had mocked him by calling him the "safe-kid", it had been Star who had turned it into a term of endearment. When she had developed a near obsession with Sailor Moon, it had been Marco who had willingly dressed up as Tuxedo Mask to accompany her to the Halloween parties, anime conventions, and that one time she insisted on going to dinner in costume. Marco still didn't understand that one. He had been the first to get his driver's license since he was a couple months older, so he'd been the driver on road trips and beach day. She'd been the *ahem* social butterfly, and so when they'd gotten into high school everyone wanted the popular Star to attend. She'd always accepted, provided Marco could come along too. The last couple of years people had evens started assuming that they were dating. No matter how many times they both denied it!

Through it all, Star had been a seemingly endless ball of light, laughter, and energy. Seriously, keeping her still when she was excited for something, like say, nachos and a movie with her bestie, was damn near impossible. And yet tonight, she was just sitting there quietly, not really saying or doing much of anything. Marco had a feeling he knew the reason, and he was pretty sure he was it. This wasn't just any friendship Thursday, it was Marco's last one at home. About a month ago Marco had gotten an amazing offer, a full scholarship to his dream school! The only problem is it was halfway across the country and plane tickets were expensive. He wouldn't be coming home all that often. Tomorrow he would be boarding a flight for move-in weekend. Star on the other hand had chosen a good, but local, school to attend. She was an only child and her parents both had minor health issues. She felt guilty that by going away she wouldn't be there to help take care of them and so had opted to be closer to home. This would likely be the last time they would see one another until Christmas…maybe.

Not knowing exactly how to fix the situation, Marco fell back on a tried and true method. He was going to make Star laugh so hard she would forget whatever was bringing her down.

"Hey." He said, Star glancing up slightly as Marco sat down next to her on the couch. "Remember all those trips to the Bounce Lounge? And that time you twirled me around so hard you almost threw me into the DJ?" Star gave a half chuckle at that one.

"Yeah… good times. Shame it closed down. Who would've guessed a club catering exclusively to broke teenagers would actually be making all it's money from running cocaine?" Marco shook his head in mock seriousness, "Truly, no one ever could've foreseen such an outcome. How about all those camping trips to Echo Creek Woods?"

"Marco those were like 15 minutes from your house, pretty sure that didn't count as real camping."

"Didn't stop you from getting all scared and making me snuggle with you all night."

Star started blushing furiously and crossed her arms over her chest. "That happened ONCE Marco! One time! And you promised never to bring it up again!" Marco was now laughing hard. "Alright, alright. One last one. Remember that time you were really upset so I tickled you until you started laughing so hard you cried?"

Star scrunched up her brow at the one. "No, I actually don't remember that one at all." Marco got an absolutely evil look in his eye. "Welllllll….maybe this will help you remember!" And with that, Marco launched himself across the couch at Star, years of friendship having taught him all her weak spots. Before long Star was a giggling and wheezing mess.

"Oh *giggle* yeah *pant* Diaz? You want to *uncontrollable laughing* play it like that? Cause two can play at this game!" And with that Star, just as familiar with all of Marco's weak points, quickly turned the tables. Between fits of laughter Marco managed to get out "Bring it on Butterfly!" And the ultimate tickle fight of the century ensued, nachos and movie night long forgotten. This continued on for some time until the two friends ended up falling off the couch in a tangled heap of intertwined limbs, Marco blushing furiously at the compromising position he now found himself in.

Marco was laying on top of Star, their legs intertwined, his chest and arms pinning her to the floor, and their faces so close they were practically breathing the same air. He found himself getting lost in the deepness of her crystal blue gaze. He had yet to find an ocean or stream that came close to reflecting the purity he now found himself staring into. Marco could swear at that moment he could see into his bestie's very soul. He saw the joy she felt in that moment slowly eating at the lingering sorrow of his imminent departure, and something else. Something he couldn't quite identify. Any thought on what that mystery moment might be came to a crashing halt, indeed every thought that had ever moved through the young Latino's mind seemed to cease existing, as he felt a warmth on his lips. Glancing downward he eyes confirmed what his brain was unable to even begin processing, Star Butterfly, his best friend, was kissing him!

It could've been an hour, it could've been five seconds. Time had lost all relevance at this point, but eventually, and frankly far too soon in Marco's opinion, Star broke the kiss, a deep blush gracing her angelic face, golden hair splayed out behind her. Reaching up to gently place a hand on his check, Star softly whispered, "I love you Marco, I just wanted you to know that before you leave."

Yep. Every last neuron in Marco's head ceased functioning. Was he breathing? Could he remember how? He knew he should probably be saying something, saying anything! Star was looking at him with a mixture of expectation and embarrassment, but at this point asking Marco to string two coherent words together was like asking a dog to teach physics. All that came out was a sort of *drrrrrr* sound. If this had been a cartoon, his eyes might have gone blue and a robotic voice might've involuntarily made him say something along the lines of "critical system error, rebooting in progress." Unfortunately, this was real life and the longer Marco sat there in stunned silence, the more Star looked like she was going to burst into tears.

"I know it was stupid of me to do that! Stupid Star! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" She got up and made to leave the house. "I'm so sorry Marco." She said not facing him, barely fighting back the torrent threatening to pour out of her eyes. "I'll just go home now, don't worry about calling me when you get settled in, I'm sure I just ruined our friendship anyway." As she was halfway out the door, the one percent of Marco's brain still functioning made an executive decision, Star couldn't leave. He never wanted to see her leave. Acting on pure instinct, he leaped off the couch and ran to Star, grabbing her by the waist and spinning her around. Before Star could even question what was going on, Marco leaned in and planted the most passionate kiss he'd ever given anyone onto Star's lips, practically crushing her against his chest as he held onto her, determined not to let her go. Now it was Star's turn to cease all brain function. Part of her wondered whether this meant Marco loved her too; a much larger part said screw it *interesting choice of words there* and went with it. Star's eyes slid closed and she turned her head slightly to the side to deepen the kiss, running her fingers through his brown hair, eliciting a moan from the young man.

Eventually the two ended the kiss and just looked at each other. "Wow…" was all Marco could manage. "That was just…wow." Star giggled at that, lazily tracing circles on Marco's chest.

"So…does this mean you love me too?"

"I…I guess it does"

"You guess Diaz?"

"I'm still holding you, aren't I?" That was true, neither of them had relaxed the intensity of their embrace. Star nuzzled into the crook of Marco's neck. "I want to hear you say it Marco," she whispered into his ever-present red hoodie.

Marco took a deep breath to steady his nerves, "I love you."

Star could've died happily right then. Although….. "One more time?" She asked grinning into his chest. This time Marco titled her head up and kissed her softly.

"I love you, Star Butterfly."

"Good. Cause I love you too, Marco Diaz."

If possible, Marco tightened the hug even further. "I'll work on campus for some extra money to come home more often. And I'll write to you, every day! And I'll send goofy pictures of all the dumb things I do and we can talk on the phone and….." Star cut him off with another kiss.

"It all sounds wonderful Marco, but right now why don't we just enjoy our….I guess we can't exactly call it friendship Thursday anymore can we?"

Marco grinned, reluctantly breaking the hug although still holding Star's hand as they made their way back to the couch. "No, but relationship Thursday doesn't have such a bad ring to it either now does it?"

"See Diaz, this is why you're the smart one."

"And you're the cute one," Marco replied as he sat down on the couch, eliciting a giggle from his best frien….from his girlfriend. That was going to take some getting used to. Star meanwhile was still standing in front of him, looking intently at the couch as if contemplating something.

Marco grew nervous, "Star? Everything alright?"

Rather than sit down on the couch next to him, Star instead slowly slid herself into Marco's lap. "Everything's just fine Marco. I was just figuring out where my new favorite seat on the couch is. This seems like a good fit." Marco could only stutter as a blush crept over his face. "That's not going to be a problem, is it?" Star flirtatiously whispered, leaning in closer to him as a sultry smile grew on her face.

"Nope! No problem at all! This is great! Fantastic really!"

"Good." Star leaned in and kissed him. "Because you're going away and mama needs her Marco fix."

"Star please don't call it that."

"Hmmm….No!" And with that any further protest by Marco was cut off in a hail of kisses. As Marco lay in bed that night after having sent Star home despite her insistent protests that she be allowed to spend the night, "They'd had slumber parties together before after all!" He thought about how much more complicated his life had just become and what all this would mean for him down the line. Turning the issue over in his head from ever angle, Marco could only come up with one definitive conclusion, "So totally worth it."

**One week later…**

The first week at college had been hectic for Marco as he struggled to navigate the higher work load, figure out where all his classes were, and try in vain to remember half of the names of all the new people he'd met. Walking to his mailbox and waving to a couple of early friends he'd made in his advanced history class, Marco opened the slot to find an envelope practically drowning in hearts and sealed on the back with a butterfly sticker. _Couldn't imagine who this could be from_, he thought to himself with a chuckle. Opening it, Marco was surprised not to find a letter, but rather a poem.

_The day you left_

_Was the hardest of goodbyes_

_The warmth had left my life_

_The sun gone from my sky_

_When will he return?_

_My shining light and day_

_Thawing out the winter of my lonely heart_

_To a Spring of abundant love_

_I shall sit for him by the window_

_As the maiden does for her knight_

_For I know one day we shall meet again_

_My heart will burst at the sight_

Marco was stunned. Star had never written him a poem before. He couldn't remember a time when Star had even read a poem before! He took off at a run for his dorm, already running through and discarding stanzas and rhymes in his head. This reply needed to be perfect! As a goofy grin stuck itself firmly on his face Marco thought of a good opening line. _Now then, what goes well with my guiding bright star?_

**A/N: A very Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and just a general happy holidays to you all! I was going to go with a traditional Starco Christmas or Stump Day story but this one was basically written already and I wanted to post something today. I want to say how thankful I am to those who have reviewed, favorited, or followed this one-shot series. It makes me happy to know others are enjoying this work and I appreciate the positive feedback so far! More to come later this week so keep an eye out! **


	5. Chapter 5: Son of Hades

A/N:** Underworld AU**

**Chapter 5: Son of Hades Part I**

Marco, son of Hades, lord of the underworld, was bored. His father had been dragged along on an, ugh, family bonding experience with his brothers Zeus and Poseidon for a week, leaving Marco with the oh so important and oh so tedious task of judging the souls of the dead. Each mortal soul who crossed the River Styx was to step through a wall of fire before the obsidian throne. If the fire consumed them, they were unworthy souls and it would be Marco's task to devise a punishment they would suffer in Tartarus for all eternity. If the fire failed to consume them and instead wrapped the soul in an aura, they were virtuous and would be worthy to live out their eternity on the isles of the blessed. If the fire neither consumed nor enveloped them, they were sent to the Fields of Asphodel where they would do… well admittedly nothing. The majority of mortals ended up here, not having done enough good to be rewarded but also not evil enough to deserve eternal torture. Along with devising punishments, the occupant of the obsidian throne could look at the record of a mortal's life and decide to overrule the will of the fire. His father had been known to do so on occasion, either on his own whim or at the request of one of the other Olympians. Many demigod heroes had been spared harsher fates because their godly parent had interceded with Hades on their behalf. His father was many things, including greedy. As lord of all that lay beneath the ground, Hades coveted gold and jewels and other precious minerals. A proper gift was always helpful in greasing the wheels of the afterlife.

To his credit, Marco was slightly more principled than that. But he was only 1,500, pretty much a teenager, and so was far more easily distracted. Still, he had processed about 6,237,426 souls before lunch today. Not a bad pace for a rookie. Marco was in the middle of reviewing the profile of the mortal standing in front of him, some guy called Daedalus and how building a labyrinth should count towards paradise because it counted as a public work, when a call of "Hey Marco!" tore him from his work. He was pleasantly surprised to see his longtime friend Tom Lucitor walk into the room. With purple skin, three eyes, and horns, Tom was one of the demons who lived in Tartarus torturing mortal souls. His father Dave had been one of Hades' top lieutenants and so Tom and Marco had been around each other from an early age. While Marco didn't really get a kick out of pain and suffering the way Tom seemed to relish in it, the two boys managed to get along well which Marco figured was a good thing since Tom would technically be his coworker/subordinate for the next 5,000 years or so until he qualified for his pension. Plus, he was fun to race hellfire chariots around the underworld with. You had to admire a demon with moves.

Marco reached out and gave a fist bump to his friend. "Hey Tom. How're things down in the pit?"

"Pretty good. Oh man you should've seen this new guy yesterday. He was a tanner before he died so we decided to flay his skin into boots! Every day it'll grow back and we'll make something new out of them. Look I'm wearing them now." Tom gestured down to his flesh colored shoes.

"Oh Zeus Tom c'mon don't show me that!" Marco gagged. "You know I hate seeing that stuff."

Tom chuckled and lounged on the arm of the throne, "Gotta practice my torturing everywhere Marco, even on you. Yep! I'd say I'm just about the best destroyer of mortal wills in all the underworld."

"Oh is that a fact dear?" A dry voice came up from behind both boys, causing them to nearly jump out of their skin.

Tom was the first to recover. "Janna honey! No I didn't mean…What I was trying to say was… uhhh Marco, little help here with the girlfriend would be appreciated. Buddy?" Marco didn't say anything however. Standing before them was Janna, another torturer in Tartarus, one of his father's furies. Unlike Tom, Janna actually looked remarkably human, if you discounted the black vulture wings protruding from her back and talons where her hands were supposed to be. She and Tom had been married for about 200 years or so and to hear Tom tell the story, he had practically been bullied into it. Marco could believe that, Janna terrified him. She had the uncanny ability to sneak up on just about any being, mortal or divine, unexpected. She was also an absolute master at psychological torture. Rumor had it a particularly bad centaur had been sent down to the pit a few decades back and had remained obstinate and crass even in the face of eternal torture. Janna had been called in and had discovered that the offending creature was particularly vain regarding the horse part of its body. Janna's solution had been to decapitate the thing, switch its human head into a horse's, and stick a horn on top just because! Whatever the creature's name had once been, it was now simply referred to as pony head. Supposedly the creature was still obnoxious so Janna sometimes used it as a torture device on particularly evil mortals. So, despite the fact that she technically served him, Marco wasn't about to go risking his neck for Tom. There were simply some prices too high even for bros.

Marco was broken out of his musings by Janna roughly grabbing Tom by the scruff of his neck and dragging him out of the room. "Why don't we go home and I can show you _just_ how good at breaking and torturing I am?" Janna suggested. Tom immediately began to sweat ashes.

"Oh gee dear you know I'd normally just love~ that but Marco actually really needs help with today's cases and we were going to go hellhound chasing after? Isn't that right Marco?"

Janna was having none of it. "Marco looks like he's handling himself just fine. Isn't that right Lord Diaz?" Janna directed her piercing gaze at him now.

"Oh yeah! Absolutely fine! Totally good here! Don't need Tom at all and we definitely didn't have any plans later, he must be confused!"

Janna gave a small smirk. "Well, glad that's all settled. Now then back to the pit for us." She gave the smallest dip of her head to Marco, he was still the prince of the underworld after all, before exiting the throne room. The last sounds echoing out before the doors closed were Tom's already frantic wails of apology and screams of fear. Marco shook his head tiredly, guess his plans to go hellhound chasing with Tom really would need to be rescheduled. Oh well, back to work for him then. "Alright. Next shade please step through the fire of judgement, soul at the ready!" Marco grabbed the file off the top of his stack, casually thumbing through it and talking to himself out loud. "Let's see here. Star Butterfly, demigod child of Eclipsa, goddess of magic and River, king of the island of Mewni. Bribe…I mean generous donation to the Hades charitable fund, none. Age at time of death…" Marco trailed off for a moment. "16 years." Marco sighed deeply, he hated dealing with cases like this. The mortal world was a harsh place and many humans died young, even princesses. Fortunately, dying so young meant there was little chance of being sinful enough to be damned. Unfortunately, that also meant there was likely zero chance of paradise either. This fragile thing who had been alive barely more than a hundredth of Marco's life would likely be spending all eternity starting out at fields of emptiness. Marco was idly wondering why her mother hadn't simply paid for a better afterlife for her daughter when Star's soul went through the fire. To Marco's complete shock, the soul was slowly being consumed. "Damnation?!" He thought to himself. "This princess has barely had any time to live, what could she have possibly done to deserve this?" Marco began to frantically flip through Star's file trying to figure out what in Erebus was going on here.

"Ok let's see here. Blond hair and blue eyes, distinct heart marks on cheeks marking her as a child of Eclipsa, Wild Pegasus tamer, practiced vocalist, slayer of at least six giants and two chimeras. Gives charitably to the poor…that's it?! That can't be it!" By now Star's soul was mostly consumed, in a few seconds her shade would return to consciousness to be greeted by Tom or Janna or some other terrifying creature ready to torture her for eternity. Marco had only one chance to stop this. A deep blue aura gathered around his hand and he shouted "By right of the obsidian throne I suspend this soul's judgement until further notice!" Just like that, the young princesses' soul returned to its normal ethereal glow and reentered Star's body. With a gasp, Star looked around frightened.

"Where am I? What's going on here? Who are you?! Last thing I remember I was walking along the cliffs at the edge of Mewni and then nothing." She pointed a finger at Marco and tried to put on a royal tone even as she tried, and failed, to hide her trembling. "I am the princess Star Butterfly and I command you return my to the palace on Mewni at once!"

Seeing just how afraid the girl was, Marco bit back the retort in his throat, instead holding up his hands in a conciliatory gesture. "Look, I know this is a lot for you to take in but if you just calm down I can explain." Star paused for a moment and nodded at him. "Alright, good. So to try and answer your questions in order, you're in the underworld, your soul was about to be consumed by the fire of judgement which would've sentenced you to an eternity of torture but I've stopped that, at least for the moment. As for me, name's Marco, son of Hades, heir to the obsidian throne and future lord of the dead, yadda, yadda, titles, titles, you were a princess you should know how this goes."

"I'm…dead?" Star managed to get out, staring at her slightly translucent hand.

"Yep." Marco said matter of factly. "And like I said. This thing here," he slapped the scroll containing all of Star's deeds in life and information about her, "doesn't have anything in it about why you should be in Tartarus so would you mind telling me what you think you've done that might…" Marco trailed off, seeing that the young princess clearly wasn't paying attention to him. "Hey, you wake up there?"

Star continued to stare off into space. "I'm dead. I'm really dead."

"Yeah. Like I said, not a ton of time here so if you could just point me in the right direction here I can get on with my day." Marco didn't mean to come off as rude but he'd seen his share of mortal souls with unhappy endings and it frankly didn't phase him. Death was a natural part of the mortal world; he couldn't see why they would get so worked up over it. So when Star suddenly broke down into body wracking sobs and sank to the ground, Marco didn't know how to react. "Ummm… there there. It'll be alright." He said still standing a few feet away. Unsurprisingly this didn't work at all. Sighing, Marco went over to sit on the ground next to the princess and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Look. I know this must be a lot to take in. But I promise the underworld really isn't so bad of a place. Well most of it isn't anyway. What if I show you around a bit? We can talk about your mortal life and try and figure out what's going on here before the spell wears off." Marco had no idea why he was giving this girl so much of his attention and time. She was just another mortal after all. But something about her intrigued him and he was determined to get to the bottom of this.

Star meanwhile was slowly getting her breathing under control, comforted by the teenage god next to her. "Yeah…I think I would like that and… wait. What was that last bit about a spell?"

Marco awkwardly ran his hand through his hair. "Sooooo, the thing is anyone occupying the throne over there can suspend the judgement of a soul for further review. Dad can hold off on someone for weeks if he has to, but even with him out of the underworld I only have a fraction of his power so we've got maybe a little under 14 hours or so until it wears off."

"And what happens then?"

"Either I provide enough evidence from the throne that changes where the fire wanted to send your soul, or the fire's original decision is affirmed and you get sent to the pit of Tartarus for all eternity to be tortured in a manner befitting whatever crime sent you down there. So, you know, no pressure. That's why I keep asking if you can tell me whatever it is you did that was apparently so terrible."

Star looked downcast. "But…But I couldn't tell you. I don't remember doing anything bad. I've been good my whole life! Honest!"

Marco sighed, "Yeah, I was worried you were going to say that. Alright then, here's what's going to happen. For the next 13 hours I'm going to show you around the underworld and you are going to tell me about every last thing you can recall about your life. And together, maybe we can figure out how to fix this." He stood up and offered her his hand. "Deal?"

Star looked up at the young god and despite her situation felt a smile appear on her face. Grabbing his hand, she allowed him to pull her to her feet. "Deal."

Over the next few hours, Marco and Star traveled throughout the realm of Hades and talked. Marco showed Star the gladiatorial arena (which Star wanted to immediately join) and the flaming horse chariot arena (which Star wanted to join even more). They went to visit Cerberus at the mouth of the River Styx with Star remarking he was "such a cute puppy" and gave the giant three headed beast a belly rub while Marco muttered under his breath about what a lousy guard dog he was. Star meanwhile told Marco about her life growing up as a demigod and the princess of Mewni. She spoke of her two closest friends/handmaidens Jackie and Kelly, her father, King River, who had encouraged his little girl from a young age to race and hunt and fight like a true warrior! Of the heroes who had come seeking her hand whom she had turned away (evidently she had a crush on some musician named Oskar) and of her home. She talked endlessly about Mewni's vast fields of corn, a crop Marco had never heard of but evidently was served with practically every dish on the island, and about the forests she run in as a girl and the monsters she had fought. To Marco, who had lived his entire life in the underworld, it all sounded very strange. Nice, but strange. Still, by the time they reached the Fields of Asphodel, nothing that Star had told him sounded like anything bad. As they walked into the fields and among the dead, he tried a different track.

"And your mother?" He inquired? "Do you know her? Have you ever met her?"

Star's earlier jubilance at describing Mewni faded. "I…I've only met her once really. She came to my 5th birthday and conjured me a wreath of blue roses. I absolutely loved them, until the next day when father told me that in Mewni culture a crown of blue roses was to be placed only on the heads of the departed. I could never understand why she did that. I think I may have seen her one other time but…" She stopped walking suddenly and placed a hand on her head as if experiencing tremendous pain. "I'm sorry, my memory feels all fuzzy."

Marco nodded in understanding. "It's alright, a lot of mortals lose at least some of their memories when they come down here."

"Did you ever meet her?"

"Who?"

"My…My mother."

"Oh." Marco paused in his stroll as Star stood next to him with a mix of hope and trepidation in her crystal blue eyes. "No. sorry I haven't. Not many gods come down here. They don't like being around death. It reminds them of the fact that there are some things that can kill even immortals. I think they fear the concept of fading from this world the way mortals do, no matter how many thousands of years they live."

Star thought about that for a minute. "So how old are you anyway?"

"About 1,500 or so."

"WHAT?! But you look like you're my age!"

"Yeah, gods age much slower that mortals. My dad is over 10,000 but he probably wouldn't look much older than your dad from the way you've described him."

"By Zeus, I can't even imagine what 10,000 years ago would be like."

"If the stories my dad told me are anything to go bye, not good, especially not for mortals."

Star continued to look around the plain. "And how long have all these guys been hanging around?"

Marco shrugged nonchalantly, "Not sure. Feel free to ask them though."

"Wait they can talk?! Then why haven't they been interacting with us this whole time? Or even with each other?" Star exclaimed.

Marco sighed, "That's part of the nature of the Fields. It's not paradise or damnation, it's just nothingness. Some of these shades have been here for centuries with nothing to do but remember and wander an empty plain. After a while I guess talking just seems like a waste. After all, what could be new to talk about?"

Star got a determined look on her face and placed her hands on her hips. "Well that's just wrong! If they didn't do anything bad enough to be punished they shouldn't have to sit isolated for all eternity." With that she walked up to the nearest shade, arm outstretched and with a smile declared "Hi! I'm Star Butterfly from Mewni! Nice to meet you. What's your name?" The shade seemed slow to react at first, as if the old man was trying to remember how to talk. He slowly got out "My….My name is Arjax. I was a smith of Crete." Tears sprung up unbidden into his eyes. "It's been so long since I've spoken to another soul."

Star gave Arjax a small smile. "Tell me about your life Arjax, I want to hear all about it." It went on like this for some time and Marco couldn't believe it. Everywhere Star went she would walk up to random shades and strike up conversations with them, asking about their lives, their families, no topic was left untouched. Sometimes she would pull a random shade along with them for a little while before introducing them to yet another undead spirit and get the two of them talking. Before long there was more noise and chatter in Asphodel than Marco had ever heard. Star for her part looked the happiest he'd seen since he'd met her. A satisfied grin on her face and arms crossed over her chest, she looked out in contentment.

"How?" Marco asked in awe. "How did you do all this?"

Star turned to him. "We mortals don't just live on food and air. We crave relationships with one another, empathy, and stories. Someone just had to remind them what it meant to be alive is all."

Marco was silent for a good long moment. "I've made a decision." He declared.

Star turned to look at him, "A decision?"

"We still don't know why the fire tried to banish you to Tartarus, but I've seen enough at this point to know that no one as kind and good-natured as you could possibly deserve an eternity of torture. So we're going back to the throne room and I'm pleading your case from the obsidian throne."

"For the Fields of Asphodel?"

"No," Marco turned to look her in the eye, warm brown meeting sky blue, "for the isles of the blessed. You're a good person princess Butterfly, I think someone like you would fit right in in eternal paradise."

Star's eyes grew wide and sparkled and a heavy blush lit up her face. "Marco, you… you really mean it?" Marco nodded. "HUUGGSSSSSS!" Star launched herself at the young death god, wrapping her arms around him and squealing. Marco was at this point thoroughly embarrassed, coughing into his hand and lightly patting Star's back. Physical contact was so not his strong suit.

"Umm Star, could you maybe let go now?"

"Huh, oh right. Sorry Marco." Star released him. But kept her grin on, practically bouncing with energy. It was so infectious even Marco couldn't help but return the grin.

"Alright, we need to hurry back to the palace. I'm not sure how much time we have left but I can't imagine it's much." At that moment, Marco's hand started to glow blue and to his horror a small blue ball of light floated out of Star's chest, an orange flame slowly growing around it, consuming it.

"No! No no no no no!" Marco shouted.

Star was suddenly fearful. "Marco, what's going on?"

"The spell is wearing off, we have to get back and plead your case now before it's too late!" He made to grab Star's hand and pull her back towards the palace in the distance but before he made it more than a few steps she became intangible. Marco turned around. "Star?" Said princess was standing there, a sad smile on her face and tears running down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry it didn't work Marco. But thank you for believing in me. You're a good person. I never thought I'd treasure the day I died, but you made it worth remembering. Give Cerberus another belly rub for me okay?"

"No! Star hang on, I can fix this!" Marco lunged for her rapidly fading spirit, but his hands found only air. She was gone. "NOOOOOOOOOO!" Marco's cry was full of anguish and the ground cracked and roiled beneath him as the underworld responded to its prince's power. After a moment, a look of determination set in on Marco's face, eyes locked to the South where the darkness of the underworld seemed to get even deeper; Tartarus. Marco didn't know how, but he WOULD get Star's soul out of there. He was the son of Hades and if there was any being out there mortal or divine who could get her back, it was him. "Hang on Star, I'm coming."

Star awoke in pure darkness, disoriented. The sound of gentle breathing her only indication of anything? "Marco? Is that you? Are you there?" A flame suddenly illuminated the area in front of Star, but it wasn't Marco standing before her. Instead it was another teenage looking girl with raven black hair, wearing a pure black toga, and black wings protruding from her back.

"Hello little butterfly," she practically cooed. Welcome to my playground.

**A/N: Alright so this is the longest story I've written so far and as you can tell from the title, there will absolutely be a Part II for this one. I had originally planned to do the whole story in one go but I didn't want to make it too long and have it get away from me even though I don't like writing cliffhangers. I'm curious about what you think will happen next. How did Star die? Can Marco rescue her from hell? Did you like my mini introduction of JanTom? Please comment and let me know and thank you everyone who has taken the time to favorite, follow, review, or even just read these stories. It really is the fuel that powers my writing. Part II probably won't be the immediate follow-up here, I think I'll switch over to something light-hearted first but keep an eye out! Until next time.**


	6. Why Star Shouldn't Have a Lightsaber

**A/N: So with Rise of Skywalker and the season finale of Mandalorian out I figured it would be cool to do a Star Wars AU. Then I remembered there's already a great Star Wars/SVTFOE crossover out there called Star (Wars) vs The Forces of Evil by EDD17SP. Highly recommend checking it out, they're a way better writer than I could ever hope to be and what's published of the story so far is amazing. Anyway, this one is going to be something a little different but still with that Star Wars theme so I hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 6: Why Star shouldn't be allowed to have a lightsaber**

Even after a year of having Star in his life, it still amazed Marco how little she knew of technology sometimes. It seemed like possessing magic had frozen Mewni in what would be the equivalent of medieval Europe here on earth. He fondly recalled the day he met Star and she had no idea what a light switch was or how a water fountain worked. It was a little strange because she had been to all these amazing dimensions with even crazier technology than earth but Marco ultimately chalked that up to the difference between visiting a place and actually living there full-time. So one day when Star saw a trailer for the latest Star Wars movie coming out, Marco hadn't been at all surprised that she was insisting on seeing it. Now, being a true gentleman and a devoted fan of the franchise, Marco had seen it as his duty to educate Star on the proper order to watch the movies in, quieting any protests she had about not seeing the new one in theaters immediately with the promise of a weekend movie marathon of the original trilogy with double nachos. As Marco had anticipated, Star had been fascinated by the sci-fi technology and the sense of wonder it had created in so many others. What he hadn't anticipated was how obsessed she would become with it.

Case in point, the following Monday Marco arrived home after being held up in school to find his living room had been covered in a sheet of snow. Tiny laser bolts were firing everywhere and destroying the house as miniaturized AT-AT's battled snow speeders in a reenactment of the battle of Hoth. Star herself was sitting on his couch, which had been remodeled to look like the rebel shield generator, drinking a cup of hot chocolate and watching with rapt attention. It had taken Marco walking right up to her and booping her on the nose to break her out of the trance. The next day Ludo had come for the wand, as per usual. He and Star had jumped into the fray with their normal enthusiasm and while Marco engaged with his usual karate, Star's spells changed dramatically. Her narwhal blast had been replaced by a wampa blast and warnicorn stampede had been changed to a wookie stampede! Suffice to say Ludo and his minions had been absolutely terrified and had fled even faster than usual. By the weekend Star was insisting on seeing the rest of the movies, the multiple tv series, anything she could get her hands on. When she started referring to her spells as force powers and her spell book as a holocron, Marco knew he'd lost her completely. Again, he didn't realize quite to what depths.

It was around week three of the Star Wars obsession and Marco had been out for the day running errands. Not seeing his parents or his bestie around he'd decided to check in on Star, knocking on the door hesitantly. "Star, you in there? I'm back from the store. I figured we could go dimension hopping if you're up for it?" Getting no reply and seeing only darkness in front of him Marco ventured just inside the doorway when suddenly a loud hissing sound emerged followed by the unmistakable sound of a metal plate slamming shut. The room suddenly illuminated and standing in front of him was Star… or at least he thought it was Star. The girl standing before him was in a skintight black suit complete with a flowing black cape and full-face mask. "S… Star. Is that you?" Marco got out nervously.

The voice that answered back sounded like vaguely like Star's, but deeper and more threatening. "Star Butterfly was weak, I destroyed her. You are standing in the presence of Darth Astrum. Now Jedi, you will give yourself to the dark side or you will meet you friend's fate."

Marco was beyond confused. "Jedi? C'mon Star I'm not a Jedi. It's me, Marco, remember?" Marco trailed off as Star leveled her wand at him and he heard the classic "radiant shadow transform" followed by momentary blindness. When he'd recovered his senses, Marco found his classic hoodie and slacks had been replaced by the cream-colored robe of a Jedi. Star proceeded to place the wand on her belt.

"Now then Marco Diaz, Jedi Knight. If you will not join me then draw your saber at least. Otherwise this will be no contest."

"Star I don't have a lightsaber!" Marco frantically patted himself down to show he had no weapon before his hand slid over a metallic cylinder on his belt. Pulling it off Marco's eyes grew wide. She couldn't have…. He decided to thumb the activation switch and the oh so familiar snap-hiss followed by the emergence of an emerald green blade confirmed it. Star had conjured him a lightsaber. Oh sweet merciful lord Star wanted to fight him! "Now Star" he began hesitantly. "You don't want to do this, don't you think this is going too far?"

Star could only chuckle. "I keep telling you, your friend Star is gone. Now then Jedi, prepare yourself!" Star thumbed her own activation switch but instead of a typical sword the end of her saber appeared as a… "A battle-axe Star! Seriously?!" Marco exclaimed. "How the heck is that fair?!"

"It's not supposed to be fair Jedi scum, it's supposed to be your death!" And with that Star leaped at him, Marco barely dodging as her axe buried itself in the floor.

"Star I'm serious! Cut it out!" Marco barely managed to deflect the next few blows, his arms rattling with each contact. Another dodge saved him as Star's saber imbedded itself in her bedspread, instantly setting fire to the comforter. Ok Marco, he thought to himself. You're facing an insanely strong magical princess with a glowing laser-axe that can cut you in two and is either really taking a practical joke wayyyyy too far or is actually hellbent on ruling the galaxy as a mistress of evil and sees killing you as the first step. How do I get out of this? Maybe he could appeal to her love of the series? Worth a shot.

"Star, you don't want to do this. There is still good in you, I can feel the conflict."

"There is no conflict" Star monotonely stated as she reduced the table Marco had been hiding behind to kindling.

"Uhhh…. If you strike me down I shall become more powerful that you could possibly imagine. Wouldn't want that would you?" He was forced to deflect another series of powerful swings in response.

"The dark side is a pathway to many abilities some considered to be unnatural?" That one didn't work either. Marco could feel himself tiring out fast, at this rate he couldn't keep Star at bay for much longer. No sooner had that thought run through his head that Star took a particularly vicious chop at him, knocking Marco's saber out of his hand, deactivating as it rolled across the floor. He found himself on the floor, staring up at Star, her battle-axe at some point having shifted back into a regular lightsaber, poised to strike him down.

"Any last words Jedi?"

Marco closed his eyes and thought. Without opening them he said "Attack of the Clones was by far the best prequel movie." When he felt nothing, Marco cracked open an eye to see the red blade mere inches from his neck and hearing the unmistakable peal of Star's laughter. Opening his eyes full Marco saw Star holding her side with one hand, mask up and tears freely flowing down here face.

"Oh that is a good one Marco! Attack of the Clones! Ha ha ha ha!" She deactivated her lightsaber and continued to giggle uncontrollably.

Marco got up and dusted himself off. "I think you went a little too far with the practical joke on this one Star."

Star had finally gotten herself under control meanwhile. "Yeah… maybe a little. I'm sorry Marco. I just really wanted to have an epic lightsaber battle with you and well, one thing led to another."

"And the fact that your lightsaber was a giant battle-axe?"

Star at least had the courtesy to look sheepish "I'm more used to it than a sword okay?" She tried to brush it off, "besides, it's not like anything too bad happened."

Marco took a look at the destruction of Star's room, including the bedding that was still on fire. He rolled his eyes, "yeah~ tell you what Star, how about we make a rule that form now on, no more lightsaber duels in the house?"

Star pouted "Oh fine." Thinking about it for a second she added, "but can we still use them on Ludo?"

"Oh that's ALL, we're using on Ludo from now on"

"Awww Marco! Hugs!"

And true to Marco's word, from then on Ludo learned to fear the awesome Jedi/Sith duo that was Marco Diaz, Jedi Knight, and Darth Astrum, mistress of the Sith.

**A/N: So when trying to pick Star's sith name, I went with a Latin translation. Turns out the two closest were Stella, which seemed too obvious, and Sidus which was a little too close to Sidious for me. Astrum, at least according to google, translates to constellation, immortality, and heaven, which I figured was a good alter ego for everyone's favorite angelic magical princess.**

**So that's it for this chapter, remember I'm always looking for new stories to add to this so please, if you read this and like my writing, be generous with suggestions. I also want to acknowledge a couple people who have taken the time to review**

**Starco4everr: Thank you for all the positivity! I'm glad you've been liking them so much!**

**SugarQueen97: Yeah I've always enjoyed JanTom where Tom both loves Janna and is terrified by her. I figured it plays to her creepy persona and it just seems to work really well. It's an interesting theory on why Star's soul in damned, guess you'll have to wait for Son of Hades Part II to find out. Gracias!**

**RJWritingInk: I hope that means you liked it haha. If so, great! If not, any suggestions on how to improve?**

**Shaeril McBrown: Yeah I like it when Marco sings too. Truth be told I borrowed the idea heavily from LordCornwallis' fic "In the Pale Starlight" The way they incorporate piano into the story is fantastic and I was hoping to replicate that at least a little.**

**Next update sometime soon!**


	7. Chapter 7: The Old Knight of Mewni

**A/N: Aged up, altered timeline AU**

**Chapter 7: The Old Knight of Mewni**

Marco Diaz, captain of the Knights of Mewni and personal guard to the queen walked slowly through the halls of Butterfly castle. His cybernetic left eye blinked in tandem with his chocolate brown right one to prevent vertigo and he walked with a pronounced limp, his old wound from a battle against a group of assassins bothering him more than usual today. Perhaps he had slept on it funny. His once dark brown hair had faded to a grey-white to match the medium grey beard which adorned his face, a sign of the years he had seen. He wore his customary steel plate emblazoned with a butterfly crest on the chest piece with a red cape and longsword. Not that anyone wouldn't recognize him, Marco reflected as he nodded to the servants running about prepping the castle for another day. He had been living here for quite some time after all.

Continuing down the hall from his quarters Marco went past the open doors of the memorial room, or the grandma room as a certain rebel princess had been fond of calling it. All the past queens of Mewni had a tapestry woven by magic depicting their life's most consequential moment and a small plaque beneath describing it as a short poem. Immediately facing him through the open doors was a young blue haired woman screaming as she fired a blast from her wand to slice off the finger of a seemingly immortal monster. Moon the Undaunted, Star's mother. Beneath the tapestry and plaque was a small display case which housed Moon's favorite tiara and a gargantuan battle-axe that had belonged to the late King River. The two had passed years ago, Moon first and River just a month later. As with every time he passed the room, Marco sent a silent prayer to whoever might be listening that they had found happiness together in the hereafter as they had in life.

Further down the hall the left-side wall rather suddenly gave way to a series of open archways which allowed one entrance to a vast enclosed rose garden. Basking for a moment in the warm rays of the early morning sun, Marco remembered Star telling him about the strange woman who she'd found in the garden one day, and how later on as her squire he had guarded her as she and her "granny" Eclipsa had tended the bushes together, slowly coaxing it back to life. These days the garden was considered one of the gems of the castle, a place for relaxation by day and contemplative strolls, or secret dalliances, by night. Marco could have stayed here the whole day just enjoying the sunshine and remembering, but he had somewhere to be today.

Another few minutes of walking brought Marco to the intersection with the castle's main hallway. To the right lay the doors to the throne room while to the left lay the main entrance to the castle. Marco had to fight off his kneejerk reaction to turn right and stand at his usual place by the queen, but before he could leave a soft cough behind him compelled him to turn around. He was unsurprised by who he saw. Standing in front of him was Higgs, once his fellow squire, now vice-captain of Mewni's knights. When they had first met Higgs had dubbed him as Star's royal plaything, a squire by name without having earned the title. Over the years through hard work and battle prowess, Marco had gained the fiery redhead's respect, then friendship, and eventually admiration. And, Marco had to admit to himself, he'd even earned her affection for a while. Youthful indiscretions were called so for a reason, and he and Higgs had had more than their fair share. Of course, none of that had stopped her from challenging Marco in front of the entire court when he'd first been named captain of Mewni's knights. True to his impressive skill, Marco had swiftly and soundly defeated Higgs. Many suggested that for such disgraceful conduct that she be stripped of her own knighthood and cast out. Instead, as his first act as captain, Marco had decreed before the entire court that Higgs was to be placed in charge of training all future squires and was to be his vice-commander. He would guard Mewni's present, but he declared he could think of no other who could better guard Mewni's future. From then on, he'd had Higgs' complete loyalty and the two had fought side by side through many battles in the years since.

"You're going there today, aren't you?" Higgs' question broke Marco out of his reprieve and he nodded in response. Higgs came to rest a hand on his shoulder, unspoken words flowing between the two comrades. "I'll take your watch today; take all the time you need captain." Without waiting for a response, Higgs marched off towards the throne room. For his part, Marco continued out of the castle and into Butterfly Village, the main town for supplying the castle with its daily needs.

Walking down the thoroughfare, Marco still marveled at how far the town had come. When he'd first arrived, the streets had been mud and pig-goat dung mixed together, the street vendors had sold mostly rags and half-rotten fruit, and the stores and homes were wood or mud with thatched roofs. Now, the streets were cobblestone, vendors sold a variety of exotic goods from around Mewni and across dimensions, and brick and stone homes and stores lined the way. Of course, the greatest change were the monsters. Everywhere Marco looked monsters were milling about, running businesses, buying wares, or entering or leaving home. Monster and mewman children played together in the street while their parents chatted, and he even spotted a few monster-mewman couples together. It all brought a smile to Marco's face. This is what he and Star had fought, cried, bled, and collected scars for. A peaceful and prosperous Mewni that was truly equal. As he walked down the sidewalk some of the older townsfolk bowed to or applauded him, recognizing their great hero. The younger ones who didn't know of him by sight still admired the bright armor and looked up at him in awe. Some vendors attempted to grab his attention to hawk their wares, and in year past an early morning goblin dog or corn shake would have seemed like the perfect start to the day. But today Marco was simply passing through and had soon walked out of town.

Sometime later the old knight had reached the entrance to the Forest of Certain Death. Marco shook his head at that. He'd tried for years to get the name changed; it wasn't even that dangerous anymore! But the people loved to stick by their old traditions and so the forest of certain death it had remained. Not far into the woods the path forked with Marco taking the path heading right. The dappled sunlight filtering through the forest canopy brought back memories of childhood camping trips with his parents and of later teenage trips where Star had come along. It was ironic that at the time Marco had thought dealing with a slightly manic princess from another dimension who could do magic had complicated his life beyond all belief. If only he could tell his past self just how much more insane his life was going to get.

After close to 45 minutes of walking/limping along, the tree cover started to thin out and Marco found himself in a meadow full to bursting with flowers of every color and variety, wild unicorns grazing peacefully, paying the old human no mind. Few people on Mewni, in the whole multiverse for that matter, knew about this place. As he headed to a small rise in the center of the meadow, Marco remembered when he had first set eyes on the place. Queen Moon had come down with an illness that no magic or medicine seemed capable of curing. Many said the constant stress of her rule, from the loss of her own mother at a tender age to all the trouble that Toffee had caused and everything in between had simply caused her body to give out. Needless to say, Star had been devastated. The situation only grew worse when River had passed shortly thereafter. When Moon had died, River had taken up a brief regency to give Star time to grieve and prepare her to rule. But with his rather sudden death the nobility immediately began pressuring Star to take up the crown. Facing the immeasurable sense of loss at having lost both of her parents and her old trepidations about ruling, Star had run. Marco, ever the loyal squire and friend, was soon hot on her heels.

He'd chased her through Butterfly Village and the Forest of Certain Death, but even in his prime and unencumbered by armor he was no match for Star's immense strength and speed. When he finally caught up to her atop the same hill he now found himself standing on, it had been because she had collapsed rather than Marco had caught up with her. Great heaving sobs had rocked her body, each breath looking like it was being choked out. Marco had done the only thing he could do and wrapped her in an embrace, trying desperately to find the words of comfort that would soothe the shattered soul resting inside his friend. He reminded her of the conversation they'd had years earlier, that she would rule Mewni her way. That she would have friends and advisors to help guide her, like Kelly and Pony Head and her boyfriend Tom. And of course, Marco. He'd be by her side always he promised.

When Star had tried to dissuade him from such declarations, he'd pulled Star to her feet and drawn his sword. Kneeling in front of her with the point of his sword resting above his heart, handle towards Star. It was the ultimate gesture of submission to another's will, a literal trusting of one's life into the hands of another. Had Star wanted to she could have seized Marco's sword then and there and with a quick thrust ended him. Instead she had stood in awed silence as Marco declared that henceforth instead of her squire, he would be Sir Marco Diaz, her personal knight. He would keep her secrets, protect her from enemies, and give her counsel when asked for it. Star had accepted, and the knowledge that Marco would always be there for her gave her strength, though not enough of it.

In the end, Star had still been too hesitant about ruling, and ultimately had begged Eclipsa to retake the throne. Eclipsa reluctantly agreed, and although some of the nobility had raged against the decision, she ultimately found enough support to claim the crown. And so, the queen of darkness for the second time in her life found herself ruling Mewni. It had been under her reign that the first laws granting monsters full equality with mewmans had been enacted, and although there had been great backlash there had also been great prosperity as the willing of both races came together to build a better world. She had also been the one to elevate Marco to his captain's rank which set off the fight with Higgs.

Although Star had been hesitant to rule, she'd immediately thrown as much effort as possible into the monster-mewman equality project when Eclipsa asked for her help. As a princess with friends and experiences in both the Mewman and monster worlds, Star was a unique ambassador to both camps and was dispatched all over Mewni. If Star had been busy with princess duties when Moon was alive, now she had become a downright workaholic. Marco would sometimes go a week without seeing her, and he was supposed to be her personal knight for corn's sake! Still, they'd still found time to be together. Rather than the adventurers of her youth, these days Star tended to drag Marco off to the meadow where the rest of the world's problems faded away amidst warm sunlight and the vibrant colors of the flowers. She had taught Marco had to ride and tame a wild unicorn, and Marco had presented her with a gorgeous moon opal for her birthday that year. In spite of the years of friendship and all they had done and shared, Marco could honestly say those days simply relaxing in that meadow had been some of the happiest in both of their lives.

Of course, if Marco was only mildly concerned about the frantic pace Star had set for herself, then Tom had been downright furious. Always jealous of how little time the two had gotten to spend together before, he now raged at how he barely saw her and how their relationship seemed to fade further and further from her mind. One day he'd appeared in the middle of the castle in a column of fire. He'd tracked down Marco and seized him by the collar demanding to know where Star was. Unfortunately for him, Star rounded the corner at exactly the wrong moment and the first thing she'd seen was her boyfriend attempting to maul her best friend and knight. A heated argument had broken out which had turned into a fight that nearly destroyed half the kingdom. Marco had eventually been able to calm the two of them down and get them to have an actual conversation with one another and by the end of it there had been if not an amicable breakup then certainly a less violent one. Tom had ended up leaving in tears and Star wasn't doing much better. Not so long thereafter, Marco had contemplated revealing his long-repressed feelings to Star, part of him holding out hope that she still held some of the affections she had confessed to him during his summer party years ago. He'd ultimately decided against it at the time, Star had been dealing with enough and in that moment, she needed Marco to be her rock, not complicate her life further.

By now Marco had reached the top of the hill and found what he'd been walking towards all day, a tall stone obelisk with a five-pointed star capping it on top. He slowly lowered himself to the ground until he was leaning against the monolith. Painful as it was, he then summoned up the memories that had led to the monument's creation. Eclipsa's reign had been prosperous, but short. It seemed that the extended crystallization had had a delaying effect on the aging process, and when the time had caught up to her, she had deteriorated rapidly. After five years on the throne, the queen of darkness had passed away and again the nobility had turned to Star, insisting that this time she take up her birthright. Eclipsa's daughter Meteora, who had been resurrected as a toddler after a drawn-out battle with Star and Eclipsa, was far too young to take over. Star had again hesitated, and again Marco had pledged that he would help in any way he could. He also gently reminded her that her accession would mean the continuation of monster-mewman integration. Ultimately the effort proved successful and Star Butterfly at last ascended the throne of Mewni as queen.

From the start, Star's reign had proved troubled. The grumbling that had started under Eclipsa from reactionary elements against equality for monsters had gown to a fever pitch as Star moved even faster with the program than Eclipsa had. The loudest, and by far the most radical, voice of all these had been the deranged solarian warrior, Mina Loveberry. She didn't simply advocate for a return to the status quo but instead for what she dubbed a "cleansing" of Mewni, the eradication of all monsters. She began to recruit others to her cause and her followers soon began a series of guerilla and terrorist attacks against Mewni in an effort to undermine Star's work. Marco had been dispatched frequently to do what he could and Star had joined him on occasion. Sometimes they managed to stop an attack before it happened and other times they'd been too late. Each had collected wounds which transformed into unsightly scars in the process. A particularly nasty flail had caught Marco in the back once and even after it healed the scar made it looked like someone had punched him in the kidney and managed to leave a dent.

After two years of this, Mina either grew impatient or believed she had gathered enough strength and put enough fear among the general populace to challenge Star directly. One of her followers had come to Butterfly Castle with an ultimatum: Star was to abdicate the throne and head into exile immediately. All monsters were to permanently leave all mewman settled areas and submit themselves to future resettlement if called for. Any who chose not to obey would face the headsman's axe. Star had issued an ultimatum in return, declaring that if Mina was a true warrior, she would face Star in the field instead of cowering behind idle threats and massacres of the innocent. Marco had frankly never been prouder of her than in that moment. Mina's messenger had left with Star's reply while Star herself began sending out messages for help, attempting to rally all who would join her. Two days later the two armies met one another in an open field. Mina had recruited thousands of disaffected mewmans and had evidently found enough steel to arm and armor them all to the teeth. Star for her part commanded a far more mixed army. Marco had been given command of Mewni's knights, while their old friend Buff Frog had rallied the monsters to Star's cause, reminding them of how much she had done to right the sins of the past. Kelly had come from her dimension to fight alongside her friends, and Star's cousin Rock Johanson had brought his clan's fiercest barbarians. The biggest surprise of all had been Tom's arrival. A massive fissure had split the ground and the young demon prince had ridden out of it on a flaming skeletal horse dressed in black, ruby-encrusted armor. He led a massive contingent of demons, shades, and hellhounds that had swelled their ranks.

The ensuing battle had been bloody. While the soldiers on the ground were about evenly matched, Star and Mina were in a league of their own, tearing through entire platoons of soldiers like they were tissue paper. Kelly had been the first to fall. She had attempted to end the battle by going directly for Mina but the solarian had been too fast for her and had skewered her with a jagged sword made of glowing red energy. The green haired woolet had died immediately. Marco himself had been the next to try and had nearly been decapitated for the effort, managing to lose his left eye in the process. He'd been down on the ground with Mina standing over him triumphantly, readying the killing blow. Marco prepared for the end but then Tom had blasted Mina with fire, refocusing her attention away from the wounded knight. The demon prince had fared the best of any of them, managing to set Mina's hair ablaze and badly scorching her arm. Marco had attempted to reach him to help, cutting down enemies left and right in a mad dash to reach his friend. His efforts ultimately proved futile however, and Tom fell clutching his open throat. The death of their prince had set off a deep wail among the underworld troops. Many of them fled soon after, and it was clear the tide was turning in favor of Mina and her followers.

Marco and Higgs found themselves back to back, fighting off the horde of opponents desperate to reach Star. By this point Mina wasn't even engaged in the fighting anymore, hovering over her troops with a self-satisfied grin on her face, she knew that she had won. Marco's eye had briefly locked onto Star's own gaze and to his surprise rather than guilt, or anger, or sadness, or any of the other emotions he expected to see on her face, she looked almost apologetic. In an instant, Star had transformed into her butterfly form and raised the wand aloft. A blinding flash of light emanated from the magical object and to Marco's horror a massive purple skull with a pair of butterfly wings surged forth and blasted directly into Mina who had no time to react. Star had unleashed Eclipsa's most dangerous and forbidden spell, created during her younger and angrier days when she had just wanted all the pain and suffering on Mewni to come to an end. She'd supposedly unleashed it on some empty world in a long-forgotten dimension and had been so horrified by what it wrought that she had refused to title it. And so it was referred to as the spell with no name. An unstoppable destruction spell, one touch equaled instant death, and once unleashed the spell never stopped, carving a path through whatever it came into contact with until it met an equally destructive force that could cancel it out. Rumor had it that the original spell Eclipsa had created was still mindlessly flying around the desolate world, forever seeking something else to destroy.

Mina had been vaporized instantly, and much of her army had followed soon after, the rest fleeing in fear. But the spell was insatiable and it soon began to circle towards the remnants of their own army. Despite Marco's pleas for her to stop, Star had launched herself into the sky and fired a beam of concentrated magical energy at the skull which redirected its attention towards the young mewman queen. A massive ball of light engulfed the sky rivaling the sun, and the shockwave knocked almost everyone onto the ground. When the light and noise faded, Marco watched Star's body, now returned to its normal form, tumble broken to the ground. He'd raced over to her, heedless of shoving aside any who got in his way, and could only gasp at the broken and bleeding form of his friend and love. He'd cradled her body into his own, desperate cries pouring forth as he begged and pleaded, with her, with the universe, with anyone who would listen to bring her back to him. Star's eyes had briefly opened, but it quickly became apparent that she wasn't going to make it. Their last words together had been another oath. Star made Marco swear that he would continue to protect Mewni and fight for the dream they had shared of a free and equal land. What else could Marco do but accept, even as tears flowed down his face and he continually begged her to stay with him? Star drew her last breath and died in Marco's arms. She had lost both of her parents at age 25 and had become queen at age 30. Now only 32, Mewni had lost its queen, Star the Underestimated.

The entire kingdom had gone into mourning for weeks, and Marco longed to do little else but climb inside a bottle of corn ale and drown his sorrows in an alcoholic haze. But Mewni had needed him and honor, along with his oath to Star, compelled him to keep his head. First had been the matter of the succession. In her will, Star had unsurprisingly named Meteora as heir to the throne and it was accepted without much fanfare. Most of the nobility who might have bristled at the notion of a half mewman- half monster queen on the throne had joined Mina and were likely dead or in hiding by this point. What had caused quite a bit more controversy had been Star's other declaration, that Marco serve as Lord Protector and regent until Meteora was old enough to handle the wand and the throne. Many of the remaining more conservative mewman nobles bristled at the idea of a mere human ruling them, the remanents of the other branches of the Butterfly family more so. But Marco had the unconditional support of the surviving knights and most of the allied kingdoms. Marco himself almost rejected the role, but again his oath bound him, and so Marco Diaz, Lord Protector of Mewni, sat the throne for a time.

Star had left a number of other requests in her will, but the only other one Marco played a serious role in was her funeral. It had been a massive affair, the whole populace, mewman and monster alike, had been allowed into the castle to see her lie in state in the throne room. The public story was that she would be interred alongside the other queens in the massive Butterfly royal mausoleum. And indeed, a grand tomb was constructed for just such a purpose, but that was a ruse. Star had indicated she wanted to be buried atop the hill in her and Marco's secret meadow where they had shared so many happy memories over the years, a place where only those closest to her would know where to find her and what the memorial marker atop her grave meant. Marco had honored the request, and made a vow that he would return once a year on the anniversary of her death to stand vigil at her grave, and to remember his friend, his secret love, and his queen, who had brought such happiness and sorrow, chaos and stability, to his life.

Marco sighed tiredly, coming back to the present. Star had been gone for just over 30 years now, and Marco was an old man of 65. True to his word, he had reigned as regent, slowly guiding and training the young Meteora, molding her into the queen she would one day have to be. He had eventually gained her trust and respect, eventually becoming like a father figure to her. Marco would never admit it to anyone, but in his deepest of hearts he sometimes pictured Meteroa as the daughter he and Star had never gotten to have. When she'd taken the throne at age 16, she had asked Marco to stay on as captain and as head of her advisory council. This time Marco had accepted without hesitation, Mewni was his home now. In the early days, he had traveled back to Earth frequently to spend time with his parents and his rapidly growing sister, Mariposa. Now, he visited his former home rarely. His parents had lived full and long lives and had passed about 10 years ago. Mariposa was in her 40's and had a family of her own. Marco adored his nieces and nephews and they in turn loved visits from their mysterious "Tio Marco." As children they had been told that their uncle simply worked and lived far away, accentuated by the strange and fascinating gifts he always brought them. When they'd gotten older, they had been told the truth and their childish love for an uncle who always brought cool presents had morphed into full-on her worship. He made sure never to miss a birthday or a special occasion, but he could honestly say that Earth hadn't been his home in decades, and likely never would be again.

Meteroa too had a family. She'd settled down with a Lucitor, finally arranging the political match that Star and Tom had been saddled with as kids and later as teens. Although this time the relationship had come up organically. Marco had seen what political matches could do via Eclipsa and Star, and he'd be damned if he let scheming nobles ruin yet another young girl's life. The pair had had a daughter rather quickly, securing the succession and providing another pillar of stability in what was admittedly an already stable time. True, in the last few decades Marco had helped defeat assassins, stamp out rebellions, and waged wars to defend Mewni, but taken as a whole Meteroa's reign had the most peaceful since before Queen Comet, Star's grandmother.

Marco glanced up at the sunset now bathing the meadow in a brilliant gold. Some of the fading rays hit the star carving in Star's memorial, casting dancing shadows across the flowers, as if an elegant waltz was playing out across the meadow. It brought bittersweet memories for Marco, but he would have to contend with those another time. For now, he stood and softly placed a hand on the obelisk. "I miss you Star, every day," he whispered. "I'll be back next year, I promise." At that particular moment a strong gust of wind whipped through the clearing, ruffling Marco's hair in much the same way that Star had used to when she teased him. He could only shake his head ruefully, even from beyond the grave he was sure his rebel princess was with him.

As he started the long trek back to the castle to relieve Higgs for the night watch, Marco reflected that at this point he certainly had more years behind him than ahead of him. His life had been filled with joy and sorrow, laughter and tears. He remembered once as a young man telling a blond girl he'd just met that he wasn't some safe kid and that he would relish a life of adventure and excitement. He'd certainly gotten more than he'd bargained for in that regard. Now as he entered the twilight of his life, all he really longed for was peaceful days. And, at the end, if the universe or some deity or whatever was out there was able to reward him in some way, one day he would close his eyes and awake to see a smiling blond queen holding out her hand for him to take hold of, never to let go. As he spied the towers of Butterfly Castle come into view, Marco smiled. It was as good a dream as any to have he supposed.

**A/N: I want to wish everyone reading this a very happy new year! I hope you liked this chapter, I wanted to explore the idea of what Marco's would be like living out his days on Mewni with Star gone. I ended up liking it so much, I'm actually thinking of doing a spinoff series with it. Maybe some more one-shots, maybe an actual story. If that's something you'd want to see, please comment or PM me. On a side note, these first seven chapters have come out pretty frequently because I've been on break but with the new semester starting up soon the frequency is going to drop off a bit. I want to say that here and now just in case anyone thinks I'm abandoning the story. Trust me, not even close. On another side note, the absolutely perfect fic, "The once and future queen" an M-rated fic by Ronald Regan and Lord Cornwallis under the penname Lord Ronaldwalis has just updated. If you haven't read it yet, go do that now. And make sure to leave a fav, follow, and review on it, they live off of that! And while you're at it, feel free to leave a fav or follow or review here too. Until next time!**


	8. Chapter 8: Marco's Birthday Bash

**A/N: So, this one came as a request from someone who prefers to remain anonymous. Wherever you are out there in the big wild world of the internet I hope this lived up to your expectations and that you enjoyed it. As always, anyone is welcome to comment or PM me with a request so long as its reasonable. For example, the guest who suggested I write a chapter where Moon and Star bond in a rather…particular way, no, just no. Anyway, without further ado, let's begin.**

**Chapter 8: Marco's Birthday Bash**

It was another sleepy weekend morning in Echo Creek, the kind of lazy day where people slept in and put off chores for a few hours, enjoying the blissful release of dreamland. Throughout the Diaz household, silence reigned supreme, broken only by the tiniest of creaks as a certain blond-haired princess crept into her boyfriend's room. Moving as stealthily as possible, Star crept up to Marco's bedside and took a moment to admire the sleeping face beneath her. _He's so cute when he's sleeping,_ she giggled to herself.

Leaning over to wake him up she whispered "Marco" into his ear, receiving only unintelligible muttering in response. She tried again. "Marcooooo, c'mon wake up," this time punctuating her whispers with a light kiss just below his jawline. All this did was produce a small moan from her bestie and cause him to snuggle deeper into the covers. _Alright, no more messing around, time for the big guns,_ Star thought to herself. Moving almost all the way back to the hallway to give her plenty of space, Star suddenly took off at a run only to launch herself into the air and land knees first directly onto Marco's chest while shouting "Good morning Marco~!"

Marco sat up with a gasp, instantly awoken from slumber and looking around panicked. "Star! What happened? What's going on?!" Star's response was to begin peppering his face with kisses while holding out a glowing hand, summoning fireworks and sparklers and little noisemakers.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY ON YOUR BIRTHDAY DAY~!" She shouted at the top of her lungs before diving back in for more kisses. When Marco finally managed to disentangle himself from the overly affectionate princess he was smiling while rubbing the back of his head with one hand and his eyes with the other, trying to will himself to wakefulness.

"Aww thanks Star but you didn't have to go through the trouble of a surprise wakeup."

Star gasped, "Of course I did Marco! What kind of girlfriend would I be if I didn't go all out for your birthday? And besides your 17 now! Isn't that a big deal on earth cause it's a huge deal on Mewni!"

"Nope sorry Star, here on earth 18 is really the big birthday, although I guess 16 and 21 are big too."

Star looked crestfallen for a moment but her smile bounced back pretty quickly. "Well even if it isn't a big birthday, it's still your birthday and I, being the amazing girlfriend and bestie that I am, intend to make it awesome. Oh that reminds me!" Star proceeded to pull out a rather large box with a bow on top of it from behind her back. "Here's your present!"

Marco looked at the package for a moment, muttering "where did you even hide that?" under his breath to softly for Star to hear. He decided not to press the issue, he'd realized a long time ago that when it came to Star you just had to accept a certain level of weird as normal. Opening the box Marco stared wide-eyed at what he found inside. Pulling it out he looked over the red hoodie in his hands. Unlike his normal attire, this one had gold trim along the edges and appeared bulkier, as if someone had sown padding inside of it.

Star was watching his expression carefully, hopeful as she saw the look of wonder on his face. "You like it?" She asked expectantly.

"It's amazing Star. The material is so soft and I love the gold trim, although what's with the padding?"

"It's made from a fiber gathered from a special plant on Mewni. Feather-light but as strong as plate mail. Now when we're out kicking butt, you'll be able to take way more hits."

Marco didn't say anything at first and just as Star was about to say something Marco wrapped her in a massive hug. "This is amazing Star. Why are you so good to me?"

Giggling, Star pulled Marco out of the crook of her neck and planted a soft and tender kiss on his lips. "Because you're so good to me you lovable dork." She hopped off his lap and stretched a little. "Now hurry up and get dressed, I've got a whole day planned for you Mr. Diaz, guaranteed to knock your socks right off!"

"But Star, I don't wear socks with my pajamas."

Star stuck her tongue out at him. "Yeah, yeah very funny Diaz. Now c'mon, daylights a-wasting!" One quick shower and change of clothes later and he and Star were out the door, strolling into town fingers intertwined with one another.

"So what's on the super awesome birthday agenda first Star?"

Star turned to look up at him. "Well I was thinking a romantic walk through Echo Creek Park, then some Brita's Tacos for lunch and then ice cream down by the pier. Not too shabby of an itinerary is it?"

Laughing, Marco leaned down and planted a kiss on Star's forehead. "Sound's perfect mi Estrella."

Several hours later as sunset bathed the town in a brilliant golden glow, a happy but exhausted couple meandered back towards the Diaz house. In Marco's opinion, it had been the best birthday of his life, a bunch of awesome activities with his beautiful and energetic girlfriend. Star for her part was just happy that she'd made Marco so happy today. Of course she'd collected on her payment with plenty of smooches as was fair after all. As they turned up the walkway towards the Diaz's front steps Marco turned to Star. "This really was a great day Star. How about nachos and a movie to cap off the night? I'm sure my parents bought a cake and we can have that too."

Star seemed to contemplate the idea for a moment. "Fun as that sounds Marco, I have a better idea." Marco looked perplexed, "oh yeah, what?"

Star's smile suddenly took on a mischievous glint. "This." And without further warning, pulled out her wand and shouted "super surprise blindfold beam!" Marco stumbled for a second, disoriented as his world suddenly went dark.

"Star, what're you doing?"

Star went up and grabbed him by the hand. "Don't worry Marco, I just have one more surprise for you. She led him around the back of the house before saying "Alright…here we…go!" and pulled off his blindfold with a flourish wile a chorus of "SURPRISE!" rang out. Looking around, Marco saw that the backyard had been filled with tables, balloons, food and drink, and a giant banner that read **Happy 17****th**** Marco!** Standing beneath it were Tom, Janna, Furgeson, Alphonso, Kelly, Ponyhead, his parents, and a plethora of other friends he had made here and on Mewni. He was shocked that even Justin the football captain had shown up screaming out, "Marco Diaz rules!" to great applause.

Marco turned to Star who had her hands on her hips and a satisfied smirk on her face. "So this was the plan all along huh?" He asked, gesturing to the crowd and various party implements.

"A princess has to have some secrets Marco. Now c'mon let's partyyyyyyyy!"

Many hours, plates of food, presents, and memories captured by his parents' incessant photography later found Marco and Star standing together in the backyard, his mom and dad having gone inside and the last of the guests having left. Marco was holding Star from behind as she relaxed in the softness of his hoodie, his firm grip, and the unique Marco scent she loved so much. Nuzzling into the crook of her neck, Marco softly spoke "This really was the best birthday of my life Star, thank you for everything."

Star giggled and temporarily freed herself from Marco's embrace, much to the young Latino's dismay. That quickly ended though when she turned around and reengaged their snuggling, pulling the teen's head down to her level for a slow and sensual kiss. When it broke, Star leaned up and whispered "I'm glad you liked it Marco but your birthday's not over yet and I have one more surprise for you." Her voice had taken on a sultry, warm quality that could melt butter and her hands had moved from his back, one now gentle rubbing itself through his hair on the back of his head while the other lazily traced circles on hist chest.

The combination of touches and Star's absolutely sinful grin left Marco blushing furiously and struggling to put together a coherent sentence. "A..And what exactly might that be?" He managed to squeak out.

Star kept her gaze on the young man, "close your eyes." She implored him. Marco did as instructed, lust and anticipation leaving him a confused mix of tense and eager all at once. He felt Star's breath tickle his ear once more but was confused when the words "super sparkle cannon blaster" came out. In a flash of light, Marco found himself stuffed inside of a giant cannon like he would see in those old circus cartoons. Panicking, he realized he was well and truly stuck, unable to exit the giant contraption.

"Starrrrrrr! What're you doing? Get me out of here!"

Star, heedless of her boyfriend's protests, instead opted to walk around to the back of the cannon, holding the launch string with one hand while twirling her wand lazily with another. "Don't worry Marco!" She called up to him. "This is a tradition on Mewni. When boys turn 17 as a sign of manhood they're launched out of a giant cannon to see how far they can go! It's supposed to symbolize the ascent to manhood or something. Rumor has it the farther you travel, the manlier you'll end up. My dad went over 50 miles and look at him!"

Marco was now thoroughly freaking out. "No Star wait I don't want to be launched out of a cannon really this is fine I don't need to be a man yet no please don't." His incoherent ramblings fell on deaf ears however as Star prepped her countdown.

"Alright Marco ready?! 3!... 2!... 1!... Andddddd, you're off!" Pulling the string, an enormous thunderclap was heard throughout the neighborhood as Marco was launched screaming into the night, a trail of sparkles and fireworks following behind him, Star's own personal touch. As Marco shot over the horizon, screaming for his life, it looked to Star as if another twinkling light had taken its place among the heavens. She giggled to herself. Her Marco was going to be the manliest man ever! Oh she couldn't wait to tell her parents, they'd be so proud of him! Humming to herself, Star went back inside the house to make a mirror call and wait for her beloved's sweet return.

When Marco finally did return 3 days later, Star was overjoyed at his record-setting 120 mile launch! She couldn't understand what Marco had to be so grumpy about, not every girl had the ability to summon a giant cannon to shoot him out of! Honestly, the things she did for that boy! _Although not quite a boy anymore is he?_ She thought to herself. Maybe it would do a bit of good to give him a sneak peak of the surprise she had waiting for him when Christmas came around. "Oh Marco~!" She called out, sashaying up the stairs. Things were about to get a little weird and a little wild in the Diaz house.

**A/N: If you liked this request and want to see one of your own, leave a comment or PM me and we can discuss what it'll look like. Yes I know I put that exact message up at the top of this story but I'm doing it again down here ok?! God, so critical! Quick review roundup while I'm at it:**

**Starco4everr: Your continued enthusiasm for my little stories are commendable and it means so much you're willing to give them a shout-out time after time**

**LordCornwallis: Yeah that chapter 7 was really meant to be a gut punch. One thing I liked about the series finale was how the cleaving of earth and mewni seemed to represent how each of them inserted themselves in the other's world and definitely left a piece of themselves behind. Marco raced back to mewni in season 3 just as Star finds comfort of earth in season 4. I wanted to do my own take on how it might look when a large piece of Marco is left on mewni, but Star isn't there with him.**

**Until next time, stay classy everyone.**


	9. Chapter 9: Smuglyanka

**A/N: I'm baccckkkkkkk. I know it's been close to 4 months since I updated this one-shot series but in my defense I didn't expect my life to take the turn it did in 2020 and that was before starting a major fic called My Life, My Kingdom, My War which I will shamelessly plug here, or, you know, a pandemic. Anyway, this one is going to be a sort-of song-fic based on the Russian song Smuglyanka. The inspiration for doing something like this comes from my friend and fellow Star vs. writer LordCornwalis whose works I would highly recommend you go read if you're not yet familiar with. His most recent chapter had a lovely homage to another excellent Russian song from the same time period and it just seemed like a good idea. It will also be my first foray into first person so fingers crossed this actually works But you didn't come to hear me blather on, you came to read! So then… let me spin you a tale.**

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I couldn't sleep, the warm summer air making it impossible to get comfortable. Tossing and turning, I finally opened my eyes to see a pale pink spreading over the horizon signaling dawn and decided now was as good a time as any to get up. Walking over to my window on the second floor of my family's modest home, I could see into the neighboring family's garden. They had come to our little village recently as refugees, fleeing the war in to the west which every day seemed to creep closer to our beloved corner of the world. To my surprise, it appeared that I wasn't the only one awake at this ungodly hour as I heard the distinctive creak of a door opening. Walking into the now rising sunshine was a girl I had never seen before, with golden hair as bright as the wheat ripening in the fields. As she began to gather grapes among the small batch of vines in the yard, I instantly became smitten with her. I grew red, I grew pale, I began to sweat. All I could think of in that moment was wanting to shout out to her "Let's meet together ever dawn this summer down by the river!"

Over the coming days I would find any excuse to run into the girl who I learned was named Star Butterfly. We would walk together through markets and along the riverbanks and beneath thick stands of maple trees, their green and curly leaves shading us. One day I could take it no longer and during one walk underneath those maples I carved our names together, Marco and Star, into a tree and said, "Star, I stand here in front of you, in love and embarrassed. This war is getting worse every day and I don't know how much longer we'll be safe. So while we still have each other, let's make the most of it."

My heart felt like it was being crushed when I saw the sympathy in Star's eyes. "I'm sorry Marco. I can't come with you. There's a resistance group gathering in the woods, ready to fight this war even if our home is overrun! I already let this war claim one home from me, I won't let it take another. A lot of others from the village left their homes this morning. If you want to run and hide so be it. But if you want to join us, the road deep in the forest will always be waiting." There, under those same curly and green maple leaves where we had walked together, where I had carved our names and where I thought our love would be carved on each other's hearts, we parted.

Star left with the other resistance fighters that day. They went deep into the forest and hid from the enemy, determined to carry on the war no matter how hopeless the situation seemed. In time, her words came to pass and our little village was overrun. Many ran, including my family and I. We became new settlers in an unfamiliar village, just as Star and her family had once been newcomers to ours. If anyone had asked me I would have been the first to admit that I was hurt, aggrieved, that Star hadn't asked me to come with her that day. That if I wanted to join the resistance it would be my choice to fight, rather than my choice to be with her, or her choice to bring me with her. Many nights I stared up at the ceiling in my room and thought of her. The way her laugh was so infectious, the way her eyes sparkled with the same brightness as the stream, and of those same eyes filled with sadness that day under the maple trees. Deep down, I knew she loved me, I had to find her again!

I packed some supplies and kissed my parents goodbye as I too ran into a forest and joined a different band of resistance fighters. We carried on, moving from place to place, sometimes meeting up with different groups and working together if we were al in the same area. Suddenly one day I was tending a fire when a pair of boots stopped in front of me. I looked up and there she was! Smiling as if heaven had sent me down to her. I rose and she seized me in a hug shouting for everyone to hear, "My good Marco, my dearest Marco, my love, my Marco!"

Amidst the delirium of my happiness at Star's embrace, I looked up and realized that, just as it had been that day, it was summer and we were embracing beneath maple trees, leaves curly and green. And this time when I asked her if she would accept my love, she said yes beneath the maple trees, we kissed beneath those maples and were married there too. And many years later, when the war had been won and we had returned to my old village, now our new home, I took my children by the hand and showed them a maple tree, leaves curly and green, carved with the name of my love.

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**A/N: And that's a wrap on that. Less than a thousand words which I know is short but to be fair the chorus takes up a surprising amount of this song. If you want to listen to it in the original Russian by the way it is beautiful and you just need to search the chapter title on Youtube. I hope you enjoyed and that my first foray into song-fics, first person, and writing a chapter with Russian lyrics translated into English didn't come out too badly. If it did, my bad, hopefully next time is better. Please feel free to leave a fav or follow and I do take requests if you want to leave suggestions in the reviews of PM me.**


	10. Chapter 10: Eldritch Horror

**A/N: Hey everyone! Lord of the Storm back with another chapter. This one popped into my head when a friend of mine evidently had a bad experience and advised me not to write fiction when drunk. This immediately led me to wonder what Star might summon if she and Marco got a little too buzzed one night. So here's my thoughts on what that might look like. Enjoy!**

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It was well past 2AM in Echo Creek. The promise of sleep amidst a welcoming cocoon of darkness had lulled even the most ardent night owls into slumber, and all appeared peaceful and right with the world. The quiet serenity in one household was shattered by a familiar sound to its occupants; one akin to a zipper opening or fabric tearing. The darkness of one bedroom was brightened suddenly by a blue and pink swirling portal opening in the middle of it and two very inebriated teens dropping out of it in an undignified heap, laughing all the while.

Getting up off the floor, Star pulled Marco to his feet and wrapped him in a bear hug. "See Marco? I promised you the best 18th birthday a guy could ask for, didn't I deliver?"

Half laughing and half-attempting to shush the princess Marco returned the hug, resting his head atop the interdimensional/magical princess/his roommate/best friend. "Starrrrr. We have to *hiccup* be quiet remember? My parents are asleep. But yes, it was an amazing birthday. Who knew that the _Bouncier Lounge_ could be so much fun?"

When the original Bounce Lounge had closed and Milly Sparkles had retired, Star had been devastated. Not only was it her favorite place to bring Pony Head, Janna, and Kelly for girls nights but it was one of the few places she got to see Marco cut loose and dance. And oh boy did he have some moves! Who knew karate could be so good dancing! They had been to a few different night-clubs and such across the multiverse since then but nothing had ever come close. Then, about a year ago, a miracle came through when Pony Head called Star and let her know some of the biggest fans of their old haunt had decided to launch a new club called the _Bouncier Lounge_, playing off the nostalgia for the old place and catering to the now older ten/young adult crowd that had spent their younger years partying it up at the original. It had taken Star 15 seconds to get there, and 10 of those were spent convincing Marco to come along. Star didn't know why he kept on resisting, he always ended up having fun anyway. Marco for his part was just happy that he had set a new personal record of resisting Star's puppy dog stare.

Unlike the original, the new club included a bar with cocktail menus from across the multiverse along with a bigger dancefloor that was blacked out save for the occasional strobe light. Needless to say, the duo had become regulars at the place, their, or at least Star's over the top dance moves had made them popular. So, when Star had dragged Marco there tonight and had immediately marched up to the stage, grabbed a microphone, and announced that it was Marco's 18th birthday and that everyone's tab was going to be covered by the Butterfly family, the place had thrown one of the most epic parties the multiverse had ever seen. Not that Star or Marco necessarily cared per say since they were too busy tearing it up with each other on the dance floor and getting what some might consider to be obnoxiously drunk. Hence their current inebriated state.

Stumbling out of Marco's room, the pair decided to head downstairs, neither tired enough to go to sleep yet and wanting to talk at least a little louder without waking up Mr. and Mrs. Diaz. Throwing herself on the living room couch, Star noticed Marco heading into the kitchen. "Oh Marcooooo~! Can I have some nachos? Oh and a soda? Oh and a box of captain blanch's triple omega chocolate ultra rare sugar seeds? Oh and a…"

"Star!" Marco huffed while trying to scramble and gather everything she had asked for. "I only have two arms you know! I'm not like those octopus-men things that the club had as bartenders." Given the size of the bar and the regular attendance at the club, the owners had evidently employed a series of human-octopi hybrids with 8 arms emerging from their torsos, all with independent movement, and with the speed they moved at it seemed like independent thought as well. Suffice to say no one ever waited very long for their drink. Thinking about them made Star giggle. "Oh yeahhhh, those guys! You were so scared of them the first time Marco!"

"It's not my fault! Admit it, they're kind of weird looking!" Marco shouted from the kitchen, trying to get a tray of nachos put together.

"Marco we've been all over the multiverse and seen god knows how much weird and terrifying stuff. Remember the dimension of cats with human faces?"

"We agreed never to talk about that again!"

"Or the sandwich monster?"

"He ruined three of my best hoodies because you wanted lunch!"

Star rolled her eyes, not that Marco could see her exasperation mind you. "My **point**, is that out of all that over the last 4 years, that an octopus looking bartender wouldn't even cause you to flinch." Marco decided not to answer, figuring keeping up the argument wasn't worth it. A few minutes later Star's stomach grumbled loudly, reminding her still sluggish brain that she was hungry and there should've been food by now. "Marco c'mon, what's the holdup!"

"Sorry Star! Don't really have a sense of balance or, you know, spatial relations, or decent motor function. Turns out you need all those things to make snacks. You could always come in here and help me you know!"

To her credit, Star did at least try and get off the couch, before quickly falling from a sitting position to sprawling across the length of it. It was the thought that counted at least, right? Suddenly Star had a flash of inspiration. She could just poof up some help for Marco! One of those same octopus guys from the club would probably be great. Grabbing her wand from her purse, Star thought about the right wording for the spell before pointing it over in the direction of the kitchen and shouting "Summoning super helpful snack aid!" Unfortunately, all that did was create some sentient kitchen ware who quickly ran out the front door. "Ok…." Star said. "Not quite what I was aiming for, let's try that again. Summoning multi-armed helper!" This time it was just a ball of…. something… with arms sticking out every which way that also quickly…ran…cartwheeled? Moved, it moved out the door.

Star was quickly losing patience with the wand. It knew what she wanted! Maybe it got drunk if she did? Was that how the wand even worked? She'd have asked Glossaryck but he was at a pudding convention in Florida. Star took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, trying to connect to the magic. To her surprise, she found it rather quickly, her drunken state keeping her from noticing that it felt a little off somehow. "Alright, here we go. Summoning mega humongous helping octopus human… thing!" There was a flash of blinding light that shot into the Diaz's kitchen followed shortly by a shriek from Marco. Drunk or not, in a flash Star was on her feet running into the kitchen, or what was left of it at least. Marco was standing paralyzed in front of what Star assumed used to be where the over was. The entire kitchen wall, heck the entire side of the house, had been blown clean away. In the distance Star and Marco could see a 30-foot-tall mud-brown monster stomping its way through Echo Creek. It had the requisite 8 tentacles coming out of its face, and from an angle Star supposed it did look vaguely human. With a roar that the pair could hear clearly from what had to be at least half a mile away already, the beast began tearing up portions of Echo Creek in a rampage straight out of the old Godzilla movies.

Managing to tear his eyes away from the sight for a moment, Marco threw an incredulous look Star's way. "Star… do you realize what you just did?"

"Uhhhh…." Star chewed on the end of her wand. "I summoned an octopus helping monster?"

Marco face-palmed. "No Star. I'm pretty sure you just summoned Cthulhu!"

"Well I don't care what his name is, he better help with the snacks like he was supposed to!"

Marco was about to explain what the Lovecraftian horror actually was when one of the creature's giant footprints crashed down in front of him. Assuming this was the end, Marco threw his arms in front of Star in a defensive stance and closed his eyes when he saw the beast's arm come down towards him. To his surprise though, he didn't feel anything, and after a moment he took a chance to open his eyes and saw that a perfectly done plate of nachos, along with multiple bags of chips, cookies, cereal, and bottles of soda had been placed on what was left of the countertop in front of him and Star. Also the beast had now turned around and was back to turning Echo Creek into a wasteland.

Marco again turned to look at Star who just shrugged and took a nacho from the plate. Popping it into her mouth she gave an involuntary shiver at the taste. "I gotta say Marco, this Cthulhu guy or whatever he's called makes a pretty good nacho, almost as good as yours."

"Star he's destroying the town, we have to stop him!"

"Marco I can't do that. He did exactly what I asked him to. He brought the snacks. What kind of example would I be setting for my other spells if I punished him for that?"

Marco was speechless. "So you're just not going to do anything then?"

"I didn't say that." Grabbing the tray of nachos and some of the snacks, Star proceeded towards the couch. "I'm going to enjoy this late-night snack. That's definitely doing something. Now come and join me, I still have to give you your birthday present."

"Star there's no way in hell you can expect me to just ignore that thing while it…"

"Did I mention your birthday present is a full back massage with tasty nachos and the latest Mackie Hand movie on Blu-ray?"

Marco looked back and forth between the eldritch horror destroying his hometown and the rather cute blond now offering him a movie, a massage, and snacks. He was well and truly torn until he saw Star cutely pouting at him from the living room. "Well…" he hesitated, "I guess it's a problem that can wait till morning," he finished as he walked over and sat on the couch.

Sliding over to him, Star draped one arm over him and whispered into his ear sensually enough to make him shiver, "Good boy."

* * *

**A/N: And that, ladies, and gentlemen, is why Star shouldn't be allowed to summon things while very drunk. Let that be a lesson to all of you other writers out there if you decide to do something similar, it will end poorly. You have been warned. As always, hope everyone is well and healthy during the ongoing pandemic. Keep your eyes out for the next chapter hopefully coming soon!**


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